Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Women who’ve had breast cancer can safely pause treatment for pregnancy
Hormone therapy cannot be taken during pregnancy. A new study is reassuring for women who’ve had breast cancer and want to try for a baby.
- Health & Medicine
The FDA has approved the first-ever vaccine for RSV
GSK’s shot, for those 60 and over, can protect against severe respiratory syncytial virus. Other vaccines, including to protect newborns, are in the works.
- Archaeology
Ancient human DNA was extracted from a 20,000-year-old deer tooth pendant
Insights into Stone Age people’s lives may soon come from a new, nondestructive DNA extraction method.
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound allows a chemotherapy drug to enter the human brain
An early-stage clinical trial demonstrates a technique for getting a powerful chemotherapy drug past the usually impenetrable blood-brain barrier.
- Health & Medicine
Mouse hair turns gray when certain stem cells get stuck
Stem cells involved in giving hair its color must keep moving and changing maturity levels to prevent graying, a mouse study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Fentanyl deaths have spiked among U.S. children and teens
Wider access to naloxone, which reverses the deadly effect of fentanyl, is key as more children are exposed to the opioid, experts say.
- Genetics
Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes
A new series of studies on mammal genetics is helping scientists start to answer questions about evolution, cancer and even what makes us human.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what we know about upcoming vaccines and antibodies against RSV
New vaccines and monoclonal antibodies may be available this year to fend off severe disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus.
- Health & Medicine
Pets and people bonded during the pandemic. But owners were still stressed and lonely
People grew closer to their pets during the first two years of COVID. But pet ownership didn’t reduce stress or loneliness, survey data show.
- Genetics
What was Rosalind Franklin’s true role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix?
Two researchers say that Rosalind Franklin knowingly collaborated with James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the molecular structure of DNA.
- Psychology
Native language might shape musical ability
People who speak tonal languages, where pitch alters meaning, are better at perceiving melody but worse at rhythm than speakers of nontonal languages.
- Health & Medicine
A graphene “tattoo” could help hearts keep their beat
A proof-of-concept electronic heart tattoo relies on graphene to act as an ultrathin, flexible pacemaker. In rats, it treated an irregular heartbeat.
