Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Making sacrifices in Stone Age societies
A half-dozen burials at sites in Europe and western Asia dating to between 27,000 and 23,000 years ago provide clues to possible human sacrifices.
- Anthropology
Digging up debate in a French cave
A scientific debate has broken out over whether a French cave excavated more than 50 years ago contains evidence of separate Stone Age occupations by Neandertals and modern humans.
- Anthropology
Neandertals take out their small blades
Excavations of Neandertal artifacts have yielded a trove of thin, double-edged stone blades that researchers usually regard as the work of Stone Age people who lived much later.
- Anthropology
Ancient islanders get a leg up
A new analysis of bones from a tiny evolutionary cousin of people found on a Pacific island indicates that these late Stone Age individuals carried a lot of weight on short frames and had extremely strong legs.
- Health & Medicine
An aging protein?
The defective protein that, when defective, causes a premature-aging disease may also play a role in normal aging.
- Health & Medicine
Predicting Parkinson’s
Scientists are searching for ways to detect the earliest signs in the brain of Parkinson's disease.
- Humans
From the May 2, 1936, issue
Atomic bullets, exploding cornstarch, and an unstable solar system.
- Health & Medicine
Defending against a Deadly Foe: Vaccine forestalls fearsome virus
A single injection of an experimental vaccine prevents infection by the lethal Marburg virus in monkeys.
- Anthropology
Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly modern spine supported human ancestor
Bones from a spinal column discovered at a nearly 1.8-million-year-old site support the controversial possibility that ancient human ancestors spoke to one another.
- Health & Medicine
Reevaluating Eggs’ Cholesterol Risks
People susceptible to substantial blood-cholesterol spikes after eating eggs manage this extra cholesterol in a way that limits damage to their hearts.
- Humans
Letters from the May 6, 2006, issue of Science News
Same old grind “Ancient Andean Maize Makers: Finds push back farming, trade in highland Peru” (SN: 3/4/06, p. 132) remarks on maize starch granules being “consistent with” stone grinding. The presence of lowland arrowroot on one tool is consistent with trade, but it is equally consistent with a wandering hunter grabbing a root in the […]
- Humans
Clinical trials really pay off
Large-scale human trials of new treatments in medicine have the potential to offer huge economic benefits from improved quality of life.
