Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Colorectal cancer risk linked to stomach bacterium, inflammation
Stomach infection and high levels of inflammatory proteins are more common in people with colon polyps or disease, two studies show.
- Chemistry
From movies you’ll love to drugs you’ll take
A new method picks out promising drug compounds by computer, in much the same way Netflix recommends DVDs to its customers.
- Anthropology
Hobbit debate goes out on some limbs
A new analysis of fossil hobbits’ limb bones links them to much earlier hominids, and immediately attracts criticism.
- Anthropology
For ancient hominids, thumbs up on precision grip
An analysis of a 6-million-year-old bone indicates that a humanlike grasp evolved among some of the earliest hominids.
- Life
BATTLE trial personalizes lung cancer treatment
A new study makes a first step toward personalized chemotherapy.
- Humans
Mercury surprise: Rice can be risky
A new study out of China shows that for millions of people at risk of eating toxic amounts of mercury-laced food, fish isn't the problem. Rice is.
- Anthropology
‘Java Man’ takes age to extremes
New dating of Indonesian strata has produced unexpected results.
- Health & Medicine
Why a rotten tooth is hard to find
The brain can’t distinguish some kinds of pain coming from top versus bottom teeth.
- Space
Not your grandfather’s space program
President Obama offers a new plan that would send humans to orbit Mars during the mid-2030s.
- Health & Medicine
Embryo transfer technique could prevent maternally inherited diseases
A new technique transplants healthy nuclear DNA of cells carrying mutated mitochondria.
- Health & Medicine
Insulin pump and computer mated to regulate blood sugar
A test in type 1 diabetes patients suggests that technology exists to create wearable, self-controlled “artificial pancreas.”
- Life
Mutation effects often depend on genetic milieu
Genetic background is at least as important as environment, fruit fly research shows.
