Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Brain at the breaking point
New research, showing how stresses can snap tiny tracks inside brain connections, may improve understanding of traumatic brain injury.
- Tech
Leasing car batteries to the power company
Most people, on average, drive their cars only an hour or two a day. The rest of the time, those pricey vehicles sit parked on the street or in some garage. But if those cars had a big bank of batteries – typical of today’s gasoline hybrids or soon-to-hit-the-road plug-in hybrids – they could be earning their owners money while sitting parked. Maybe $5 to $10 a day, just by serving as a back-up energy-storage system for the electric-utility grid.
- Health & Medicine
Dolphins may offer clues to treating diabetes
Insulin-resistance switch helps maintain glucose levels in dolphin brains, suggesting possible clues to treating diabetes in people.
- Health & Medicine
Tumor tracking gets personal
A new method has the potential to use genome science to improve cancer care.
- Health & Medicine
Lunch time for stem cells
Kristen Brennand is trying to tease out how the cells in brains of healthy people differ from those in schizophrenic patients. The problem: No one wants to give up a chunk of brain for her to study. So she’s fashioning her own clumps of brain cells from tissue people willingly part with – skin.
- Humans
Decoding diversity in Bushmen
Decoding the genetic makeup of tribal leaders and Archbishop Desmond Tutu uncovers rich genetic diversity in southern Africans.
- Psychology
Cell phone distraction while driving is a two-way street
When operating a car, drivers lose a grip on messages they hear.
- Health & Medicine
Mutations may underlie some stuttering
Defects in three genes governing basic cell metabolism are found in a portion of cases, researchers find.
- Anthropology
Ancient DNA points to additional New World migration
Scientists have extracted a nearly complete genome from the hairs of a 4,000-year-old man, suggesting a new scenario for Asian migrations into the New World.
- Health & Medicine
Inflammatory bowel disease hikes blood clots
Study finds people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis have greatest risk during painful episodes.
- Life
Sperm’s pore propulsion
Scientists identify a key proton channel that helps explain the dash to fertilization.
- Health & Medicine
Protein clumps like a prion, but proves crucial for long-term memory
Study in slugs hints that some molecular 'misbehavior' in neurons may help solidify learning.
