Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
A protein found in sweat may protect people from Lyme disease
The protein stopped Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacterium that is transmitted by ticks, from growing in dishes or infecting mice.
- Environment
Heat waves cause more illness and death in U.S. cities with fewer trees
There are usually fewer trees in neighborhoods with higher populations of people of color. Planting trees could save hundreds of lives every year.
- Health & Medicine
Bird flu has infected a person after spreading to cows. Here’s what to know
H5N1 has wreaked havoc on birds around the globe and occasionally made the jump to mammals, including cows. The risk to people remains low.
- Health & Medicine
A new study has linked microplastics to heart attacks and strokes. Here’s what we know
Patients with microplastics in their arteries were 4.5 times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or die within the next three years.
- Health & Medicine
How patient-led research could speed up medical innovation
People with long COVID, ME/CFS and other chronic conditions are taking up science to find symptom relief and inspire new directions for professional scientists.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what distorted faces can look like to people with prosopometamorphopsia
A patient with an unusual variation of the condition helped researchers visualize the demonic distortions he sees when looking at human faces.
- Humans
These are the chemicals that give teens pungent body odor
Steroids and high levels of carboxylic acids in teenagers’ body odor give off a mix of pleasant and acrid scents.
- Psychology
Timbre can affect what harmony is music to our ears
The acoustic qualities of instruments may have influenced variations in musical scales and preferred harmonies.
- Archaeology
Human brains found at archaeological sites are surprisingly well-preserved
Analyzing a new archive of 4,400 human brains cited in the archaeological record reveals the organ’s unique chemistry might prevent decay.
- Science & Society
Not all cultures value happiness over other aspects of well-being
Nordic countries topped the 2024 world happiness rankings. But culture dictates how people respond to surveys of happiness, a researcher argues.
- Health & Medicine
Long COVID brain fog may be due to damaged blood vessels in the brain
MRI scans of long COVID patients with brain fog suggest that the blood brain barrier may be leaky.
- Health & Medicine
Don’t use unsterilized tap water to rinse your sinuses. It may carry brain-eating amoebas
Two new studies document rare cases in which people who rinsed sinuses with unsterilized tap got infected with brain-eating amoebas.
