Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Loud and clear
Skulls of Neandertal ancestors show the prehistoric humans had a hearing capacity similar to present-day people, suggesting human speech could have originated much earlier than previously thought.
- Humans
Data Recycling and Other No-No’s
At least one editor argues that maintaining the ethical behavior of journal authors requires constant policing.
- Health & Medicine
Shared recipes for longer life
Being female and eating a calorie-restricted diet contribute to long lifespan in animals, and the two traits may share molecular mechanisms.
- Math
Strategy to stop a pandemic
A limited supply of vaccine shots, if targeted well, could stop the spread of disease.
-
- Health & Medicine
Sick and down
To fight off an infection or illness, the body shifts into a slow-down mode that mirrors some symptoms of depression. In fact, scientists now think the immune response itself may even cause the mood disorder.
- Psychology
Lie defectives
A new analysis challenges the view that a few people with special experience can detect others’ lies with great accuracy.
- Health & Medicine
SIDS and serotonin
Study finds brain chemical deficiency causing sudden death in mice could be linked to SIDS
- Life
Fountain of Youth, with caveats
A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.
- Agriculture
Fishy Data on Weed Killer
A popular weed killer can feminize wildlife by tinkering with a gene that indirectly affects the production of sex hormones.
- Chemistry
HIV knockout
Cutting a gene in immune cells could offer a new way to treat HIV infections.
- Health & Medicine
Surviving HIV
Since the development in the mid-1990s of a state-of-the-art drug cocktail for HIV, patient survival has extended dramatically, a new study shows.
