Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what we know about upcoming vaccines and antibodies against RSV
New vaccines and monoclonal antibodies may be available this year to fend off severe disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus.
- Health & Medicine
Pets and people bonded during the pandemic. But owners were still stressed and lonely
People grew closer to their pets during the first two years of COVID. But pet ownership didn’t reduce stress or loneliness, survey data show.
- Genetics
What was Rosalind Franklin’s true role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix?
Two researchers say that Rosalind Franklin knowingly collaborated with James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the molecular structure of DNA.
- Psychology
Native language might shape musical ability
People who speak tonal languages, where pitch alters meaning, are better at perceiving melody but worse at rhythm than speakers of nontonal languages.
- Health & Medicine
A graphene “tattoo” could help hearts keep their beat
A proof-of-concept electronic heart tattoo relies on graphene to act as an ultrathin, flexible pacemaker. In rats, it treated an irregular heartbeat.
- Archaeology
A prehistoric method for tailoring clothes may be written in bone
A punctured bone fragment was probably a leatherwork punch board. Perforated leather sewn together may have been seams in clothing.
- Humans
‘Period’ wants to change how you think about menstruation
Kate Clancy offers fascinating science and history about the uterus and menstruation in her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.
- Animals
Hibernating bears don’t get blood clots. Now scientists know why
People who sit still for hours have an increased risk of blood clots, but hibernating bears and people with long-term immobility don’t. A key clotting protein appears to be the reason why.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen in birth control could be cut way back, a study suggests
Delivering an extra low dose of estrogen, or a combination of estrogen and progesterone, at a specific time of the menstrual cycle may prevent ovulation.
- Animals
Freshwater leeches’ taste for snails could help control snail-borne diseases
A freshwater leech species will eat snails, raising the possibility that leeches could be used to control snail-borne diseases that infect humans and livestock.
- Science & Society
The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky
The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.
- Archaeology
Hair analysis reveals Europe’s oldest physical evidence of drug use
Analyses of human hair found in a Mediterranean cave turned up psychoactive plant substances, revealing use of hallucinogens around 3,000 years ago.
