Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Missing COVID-19 data leave us in the dark about the current surge
Yankee Candle reviews and wastewater testing offer indirect hints, but we’re “flying blind,” says data expert Beth Blauer of Johns Hopkins University.
- Health & Medicine
4 answers to key questions about the monkeypox outbreak
Monkeypox has cropped up around the world, but it doesn’t spread easily like the coronavirus and most people probably don’t need to be concerned.
- Archaeology
Lasers reveal ancient urban sprawl hidden in the Amazon
South America’s Casarabe culture built a network of large and small settlements in what’s now Bolivia centuries before the Spanish arrived.
- Health & Medicine
Unexplained hepatitis cases in kids offer more questions than answers
There is a lot that is unclear about the hepatitis that’s impacting several hundred children worldwide, but parents shouldn’t panic.
- Science & Society
COVID-19 has killed a million Americans. Our minds can’t comprehend that number
We intuitively compare large, approximate quantities but cannot grasp such a big, abstract number as a million U.S. COVID-19 deaths.
- Anthropology
A Denisovan girl’s fossil tooth may have been unearthed in Laos
A molar adds to suspicions that mysterious hominids called Denisovans inhabited Southeast Asia's tropical forests.
- Science & Society
Pressure to conform to social norms may explain risky COVID-19 decisions
As a science reporter covering COVID-19, I knew I should mask up at Disney World. Instead, I conformed, bared my face and got COVID-19.
- Archaeology
A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice
The mummified remains contained a substance that may reduce anxiety and is found in ayahuasca, a psychedelic ceremonial liquid still drunk today.
- Humans
Prehistoric people may have used light from fires to create dynamic art
When brought near flickering flames, prehistoric stone engravings of animals seem to move, experiments with replicas and virtual reality show.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s the latest good and bad news about COVID-19 drugs
After coronavirus vaccines, antivirals and a monoclonal antibody are the next line of defense, but the treatments may be hard for some people to find.
- Humans
Eating meat is the Western norm. But norms can change
A meat-heavy diet, with its high climate costs, is the norm in the West. So social scientists are working to upend normal.
- Health & Medicine
How to wash chicken in the kitchen more safely, according to physics
Despite the advice of health experts, most people who cook chicken at home wash it. New research offers ways to reduce spreading dangerous germs.
