Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
More than 5 million children have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19
The number of children who experienced the death of a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19 nearly doubled from May through October in 2021.
- Health & Medicine
The COVID-19 pandemic is not an on-off switch
The pandemic is more of a dimmer switch, and it will be a slow slide to the endemic phase, says epidemiologist Aubree Gordon.
- Genetics
Africa’s oldest human DNA helps unveil an ancient population shift
Long-distance mate seekers started staying closer to home about 20,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
The world’s oldest pants stitched together cultures from across Asia
A re-creation of a 3,000-year-old horseman’s trousers helped scientists unravel its complex origins.
- Health & Medicine
An anime convention in November was not an omicron superspreader event
Vaccines, ventilation and other safety measures probably prevented the variant’s spread at Anime NYC, reports suggest.
- Archaeology
A technique borrowed from ecology hints at hundreds of lost medieval legends
An ecology-based statistical approach may provide a storybook ending for efforts to gauge ancient cultural diversity.
- Science & Society
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Small interventions that influence people’s behavior can be tested. But the real world requires big, hard-to-measure changes too, scientists say.
- Health & Medicine
Chewing sugar-free gum reduced preterm births in a large study
Among 10,000 women in Malawi, those who chewed xylitol gum daily had fewer preterm births compared with women who didn’t chew the gum.
- Genetics
Gene therapies for sickle cell disease come with hope and challenges
Pediatrician Erica Esrick discusses existing sickle cell treatments and an ongoing clinical trial.
- Health & Medicine
Omicron crushed delta in the U.S. These numbers show just how fast it happened
It took the delta coronavirus variant eight weeks to make up more than 50 percent of new U.S. COVID-19 infections, estimates show. It took omicron two.
- Archaeology
Homo sapiens may have reached Europe 10,000 years earlier than previously thought
Archaeological finds in an ancient French rock-shelter suggest migrations to the continent started long before Neandertals died out.
- Genetics
How one scientist aims to boost Black people’s representation in genetic datasets
Through information sharing, geneticist Tshaka Cunningham wants to build trust and encourage more Black people to engage with the medical community.
