Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Archaeology

    Serbian site may have hosted first copper makers

    Newly identified remnants of copper smelting at a 7,000-year-old Serbian site fuel debate over where and when this practice began.

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  2. Psychology

    Social judgments take touching turns

    New evidence suggests that the sense of touch influences people’s willingness to drive a hard bargain or endorse a job candidate.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    How resveratrol (in grapes, peanuts and wine) fights fat and disease

    Resveratrol, a constituent of grapes and certain other plants, can fight the proliferation of fat cells and improve the uptake of sugar from the blood, a pair of new studies indicate. These observations offer some mechanisms to explain why grape products, including wine, have developed a reputation as heart healthy, obesity-fighting and beneficial for people developing diabetes.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Snakes on the brain

    In a bizarre experiment, researchers delve into the neural roots of courage.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Stopping platelets at the source

    An experimental treatment may prevent harmful clotting and less need for drugs that increase bleeding risk, a study in baboons shows.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Abuse of pharmaceuticals is rising sharply

    In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, an estimated 1 million Americans entered a hospital emergency room for treatment of an overdose due to “nonmedical” use of an over-the-counter or prescription drug. That’s double the number of such visits five years earlier, federal data show.

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  7. Life

    Baby’s first bacteria depend on birth route

    C-section newborns may harbor fewer helpful microbes than infants born vaginally.

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  8. Anthropology

    Lucy fossil gets jolted upright by Big Man

    Scientists have unearthed a 3.6-million-year-old partial hominid skeleton that may recast the iconic species as humanlike walkers.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Feds probe Gulf spill health risks

    The Institute of Medicine will be hosting a small public workshop in New Orleans, June 22 and 23, on possible health risks to Gulf coast residents and workers in the wake of the catastrophic BP oil spill. A June 16 congressional hearing previewed some of the concerns likely to arise at the meeting. They ranged from potential long-terms risks of DNA damage to claims that BP failed to provide protective gear to contract crews hired to clean up oil.

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  10. Humans

    For sight-reading music, practice doesn’t make perfect

    Individual memory differences may set upper limits on pianists’ sight-reading skill, regardless of their experience.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Genetic defect tied to autoimmune diseases

    Rare mutations in an enzyme lead to several different disorders.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Vitamin B6 linked to lowered lung cancer risk

    High levels of folate and the amino acid methionine also seem to help, a new study finds.

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