Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
50 years ago, explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s Atlantic crossing hit a snag
Explorer Thor Heyerdahl followed an aborted Atlantic voyage with a second trip that indicated ancient Egyptians could have traveled over long distances by sea.
- Humans
Malaria parasites may have their own circadian rhythms
Plasmodium parasites don’t depend on a host for an internal clock, studies suggest.
- Anthropology
Africa’s biggest collection of ancient human footprints has been found
Preserved impressions in East Africa offer a glimpse of ancient human behavior.
- Health & Medicine
How fear and anger change our perception of coronavirus risk
Americans are weighing whether to return to society. Behavioral scientist Jennifer Lerner discusses how emotions drive those decisions.
- Humans
A gene variant partly explains why Peruvians are among the world’s shortest people
A gene variant reduces some Peruvians’ height by about 2 centimeters, on average, the biggest effect on stature found for a common variation in DNA.
- Health & Medicine
The new COVID-19 drug remdesivir is here. Now what?
Remdesivir may shorten recovery time for some people, but it isn’t available to everyone and it won’t end the pandemic on its own.
- Health & Medicine
Kids can develop severe complications from COVID-19 in rare cases
Respiratory failure has occurred in some infected children and an emerging inflammatory disease may be connected to the coronavirus.
- Health & Medicine
Loss of smell and taste may actually be one of the clearest signs of COVID-19
Data from a symptom tracker smartphone app used by millions of people shows two-thirds of positive patients reported losing these senses.
- Anthropology
The earliest known humans in Europe may have been found in a Bulgarian cave
New finds from Bulgaria point to a relatively rapid expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia starting as early as 46,000 years ago, two studies suggest.
- Health & Medicine
Florence Nightingale understood the power of visualizing science
Florence Nightingale showed simple sanitation measures could stop infectious diseases’ spread, a timely message given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- Health & Medicine
A multiple sclerosis drug may speed COVID-19 recovery
One form of interferon may boost the immune system’s ability to fight the coronavirus early in infections, a small study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Door-to-door tests help track COVID-19’s spread in one Oregon town
Surveying neighborhoods directly may give a more accurate view than mail-in tests and other methods, researchers say.
