Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Humans

    Loneliness is contagious, study suggests

    An analysis of social networks finds that people who feel isolated may spread mistrust among others.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Discerning pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis

    New test shows patients with autoimmune pancreatitis are more likely to have a telltale antibody.

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  3. Ecosystems

    Dining: Bugged on Thanksgiving

    Earlier this week, I met with Zack Lemann at the Insectarium, a roughly 18-month-old Audubon museum. He gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of its dozens of living exhibits hosting insects and more -- including tarantulas and, arriving that day for their Tuesday debut, white (non-albino) alligators. But the purpose of my noon-hour visit was to sample the local cuisine and learn details of preparations for a holiday menu that would be offered through tomorrow at the facility’s experiential cafe: Bug Appetit. There’s Thanksgiving turkey with a cornbread and wax worm stuffing, cranberry sauce with meal worms, and Cricket Pumpkin Pie. It’s cuisine most Americans would never pay for. But at the Insectarium, they don’t have to. It’s offered free as part of an educational adventure.

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  4. Humans

    Beefy hormones: New routes of exposure

    On any given day, some 750,000 U.S feedlots are beefing up between 11 million and 14 million head of cattle. The vast majority of these animals will receive muscle-building steroids — hormones they will eventually excrete into the environment. But traditional notions about where those biologically active pollutants end up may need substantial revising, several new studies find.

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  5. Life

    Bone regulators moonlight in the brain as fever inducers

    Study in mice suggests proteins could be source of post-menopausal hot flashes.

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  6. Humans

    A timely touch transforms speech perception

    New research indicates that what people hear others saying depends on their skin, not just their ears.

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  7. Agriculture

    Nation by nation, evidence thin that boosting crop yields conserves land

    Intensifying agriculture may not necessarily return farmland to nature without policy help.

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  8. Earth

    Toxic playgrounds

    No kid should ever play in arsenic. Especially at school. Yet many probably do, according to findings of a study presented today.

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  9. Chemistry

    PCBs: When green paint isn’t ‘green’

    It seems we're literally painting the air -- from the Great Lakes to Antarctica -- with persistent pollutants. Including at least one whose safety has never been studied.

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  10. Chemistry

    Case of the toxic gingerbread man

    Featured blog: A search for the source of some indoor-air anomalies turns up a surprising culprit.

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  11. Humans

    Visual illusion stumps adults but not kids

    Finding suggests that sensitivity to visual context develops slowly.

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  12. Earth

    Where humans go, pepper virus follows

    Plant pathogen could help track waters polluted with human waste.

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