Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
California’s new vaccine rules kept more kindergartners up-to-date
Three statewide interventions improved the rates of kindergartners behind on required vaccinations in California, researchers report.
- Health & Medicine
Vision cells can pull double duty in the brain, detecting both color and shape
Neurons in a brain area that handles vision fire in response to more than one aspect of an object, countering earlier ideas, a study in monkeys finds.
- Health & Medicine
In mice, a high-fat diet cuts a ‘brake’ used to control appetite
A fatty diet changes the behavior of key appetite-regulating cells in a mouse brain.
- Health & Medicine
Antioxidants may encourage the spread of lung cancer rather than prevent it
Antioxidants protect lung cancer cells from free radicals, but also spur metastasis, two new studies suggest.
- Genetics
DNA reveals a European Neandertal lineage that lasted 80,000 years
Ancient DNA from cave fossils in Belgium and Germany shows an unbroken genetic line of the extinct hominids emerged at least 120,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Thick calluses don’t make feet any less sensitive
Bare feet that develop thick calluses are just as sensitive as shoe-clad feet, a study in Kenya finds.
- Archaeology
Peru’s famous Nazca Lines may include drawings of exotic birds
Pre-Inca people depicted winged fliers from far away in landscape art.
- Health & Medicine
3-D mammograms are popular, but are they better than 2-D?
The use of digital breast tomosynthesis, a newer breast cancer screening technology with limited evidence, has risen in recent years.
- Microbes
Gut microbes might help elite athletes boost their physical performance
Veillonella bacteria increased in some runners’ guts after a marathon, and may make a compound that might boost endurance, a mouse study suggests.
- Archaeology
Capuchin monkeys’ stone-tool use has evolved over 3,000 years
A Brazilian archaeological site reveals capuchins’ long history of practical alterations to pounding implements, researchers say.
- Health & Medicine
New approaches may help solve the Lyme disease diagnosis dilemma
Lyme disease is hard to detect, but scientists are investigating new diagnostic approaches.
- Science & Society
Lost wallets are more likely to be returned if they hold cash
Worldwide, return rates of lost wallets goes up as the money inside increases, contradicting the idea that people act in their own self-interest.
