Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
An ancient dog fossil helps trace humans’ path into the Americas
Found in Alaska, the roughly 10,000-year-old bone bolsters the idea that early human settlers took a coastal rather than inland route.
- Health & Medicine
What you need to know about J&J’s newly authorized one-shot COVID-19 vaccine
Even as a third COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the United States, questions remain over how well it works and if people will take it.
- Health & Medicine
Global inequity in COVID-19 vaccination is more than a moral problem
Wealthy countries are vaccinating at much higher rates than low-income countries. Such inequities could ultimately prolong the pandemic for all.
- Health & Medicine
Can a COVID-19 vaccine’s second dose be delayed? It’s complicated
New data indicate that delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines may still provide protection, but some scientists aren’t convinced it’s OK.
- Health & Medicine
COVID-19 vaccines may be ready for teens this summer
Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is a crucial step towards reaching herd immunity and returning to pre-pandemic life.
- Animals
Having more friends may help female giraffes live longer
A more gregarious life, even while just munching shrubbery, might mean added support and less stress for female giraffes.
- Anthropology
Ardi may have been more chimplike than initially thought — or not
A contested study of hand and foot fossils suggests this 4.4-million-year-old hominid was a tree climber and branch swinger.
- Health & Medicine
Redefining ‘flesh-colored’ bandages makes medicine more inclusive
Peach-colored bandages label dark-skinned patients as outside the norm, says med student Linda Oyesiku. Brown bandages expand who gets to be normal.
- Health & Medicine
How 5 universities tried to handle COVID-19 on campus
U.S. colleges opened in the fall with a patchwork of control measures to keep COVID-19 at bay.
- Health & Medicine
The U.K. approved the world’s first COVID-19 human challenge trial
Dozens of young, healthy volunteers will be deliberately exposed to the coronavirus to find out how much virus it takes to get someone sick.
- Health & Medicine
The COVID-19 death toll sent U.S. life expectancy plunging in 2020
Estimates show that American’s overall life expectancy declined by a year, but for Black Americans, the drop was almost three years.
- Health & Medicine
Some Neandertal genes in people today may protect against severe COVID-19
Neandertal DNA on chromosome 12 may affect genes involved in a biochemical chain reaction that ends with the destruction of viral RNA.
