Humans
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Neuroscience
Herminia Pasantes discovered how taurine helps brain cells regulate their size
Mexican scientist Herminia Pasantes spent decades studying how nerve cells regulate their size and why it’s so vital.
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Health & Medicine
A new technology uses human teardrops to spot disease
A proof-of-concept technique to analyze microscopic particles in tears could give scientists a new way to detect eye disease and other disorders.
By Meghan Rosen -
Health & Medicine
Here are experts’ answers to questions about COVID-19 vaccines for little kids
Pediatricians recommend that parents vaccinate their kids, toddlers and babies against COVID-19 to protect them from coronavirus infection.
By Meghan Rosen -
Health & Medicine
Two pig hearts were successfully transplanted into brain-dead people
The transplants kept the patients’ blood flowing for three days and are an early step in figuring out if the procedure might work in living people.
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Science & Society
‘Virology’ ponders society’s relationship with viruses
In a collection of wide-ranging essays, microbiologist Joseph Osmundson reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for “a new rhetoric of care.”
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Anthropology
Demond Mullins climbed Everest to inspire more Black outdoor enthusiasts
Mullins hopes his successful Mount Everest summit will encourage more Black people to experience the great outdoors.
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Health & Medicine
The flowery scent of a Zika or dengue infection lures mosquitoes
Mice and humans infected with dengue emit acetophenone, attracting bloodsucking mosquitoes that could then transmit the viruses to new hosts.
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Health & Medicine
College COVID-19 testing can reduce coronavirus deaths in local communities
Counties with colleges that did COVID-19 testing fared better against the coronavirus in fall 2020 than towns with colleges that did not test.
By Anil Oza -
Psychology
The idea that many people grow following trauma may be a myth
Studies of posttraumatic growth are fundamentally flawed and can contribute to toxic cultural narratives, researchers say.
By Sujata Gupta -
Health & Medicine
How scientists are shifting their search for links between diet and dementia
Studies of food’s impact on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are hampered by complexity. Scientists hope new research approaches prove more fruitful.
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Health & Medicine
This soft, electronic ‘nerve cooler’ could be a new way to relieve pain
A tiny electronic device implanted in the body generates targeted pain relief by cooling off nerves, experiments in rats suggest.
By Meghan Rosen -
Space
Six months in space leads to a decade’s worth of long-term bone loss
Even after a year of recovery in Earth’s gravity, astronauts who’d been in space six months or more still had bone loss equal to a decade of aging.
By Liz Kruesi