Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Nuclear energy: As Germany goes…
The German government surprised many energy analysts May 30, with its pledge to phase out use of nuclear power. What makes the announcement particularly noteworthy is that this government is not offering to walk away from a bit player. Nuclear power currently supplies almost one-quarter of that nation’s electrical energy — more than its share in the United States.
- Psychology
Kids own up to ownership
Children value personal ownership more than adults do and may need to learn when to disregard possessive urges.
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- Health & Medicine
Body & Brain
Cancer treatment raises stroke risk, plus ankle-powered sprints, irregular heartbeats and more in this week’s news.
- Physics
What it means to ‘feel the noise’
Scientists investigating the nexus between sound and touch suggest that the ear arose from skin.
- Tech
Cans bring BPA to dinner, FDA confirms
Federal chemists have confirmed what everyone had expected: that if a bisphenol-A-based resin is used to line most food cans, there’s a high likelihood the contents of those cans will contain at least traces of BPA.
- Health & Medicine
Bacterial meningitis keeps falling
Vaccination against a strep bacterium and other microbes has proved a potent deterrent over the past decade, a nationwide survey shows.
- Humans
Skeptical scientists call 1-800-BALONEY on cell phone study
Findings on brain effects are vigorously attacked and just as strenuously defended.
- Health & Medicine
Clues to autism’s roots from brain study
A new analysis finds differences in genetic activity, especially in genes controlling nerve cell form and function.
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- Chemistry
Natural pain-killing chemical synthesized
Conolidine — a headache to isolate from the plant that makes it — can now be produced from scratch in the lab, opening the promising compound to study.
- Psychology
Geometric minds skip school
Villagers' understanding of lines and triangles raises questions about how people learn the properties of objects in space.
