Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Teen hearing loss rate worsens
The percentage of adolescents with some decline has increased since the 1990s, a study shows.
- Anthropology
Genome of a chief
Ancient DNA experts say they are analyzing a lock of Sitting Bull's hair.
- Humans
Most prisoners come from few neighborhoods
As overall crime rates declined in the United States, certain poor communities fueled a dramatic rise in incarceration rates.
- Health & Medicine
The high cost of diabetes
Although an estimated 7.8 percent of Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, patients with this metabolic disease rack up 23 percent of hospital costs nationwide, a new federal analysis finds. Their collective hospital bill in 2008, the most recent year for which data were available: almost $83 billion.
- Life
Muscles remember past glory
Extra nuclei produced by training survive disuse, making it easier to rebuild lost strength.
- Humans
Retirement at 62 boosts well-being
People who retire on the early side tend to feel better physically and emotionally than those who quit working earlier or later.
- Humans
Depressed teens not shunned
In high school, students with depression seek — rather than settle for — friends with similar moods.
- Humans
Sociologists looking at risky behavior plunge into the gene pool
A new study of youths reveals that social scientists’ opinions still vary on the potential of studying how genes interact with social contexts.
- Astronomy
Celestial wish list
A panel of astronomers ranks proposed astrophysics projects for the coming decade.
- Humans
Protecting innocent — and not so innocent — bystanders
Technique removes pedestrians from Google Street View images.
- Health & Medicine
Want a baby? Relax . . .
Scientists have just confirmed what obstetricians knew anecdotally for years — that women under stress can have a difficult time getting pregnant. What’s new: Biochemical markers quantified the degree of stress — and potentially the type — affecting fertility.
- Tech
The people’s pulsar
Thousands of volunteers help discover a neutron star by donating the processing power in their idle home computers.
