Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Vaping’s dangers loom large amid more than 50 U.S. deaths this year
Lung injuries and deaths linked to vaping in 2019 are a sobering indication of the dangers of e-cigarettes as teen use continues to rise.
- Humans
Mysterious Denisovans emerged from the shadows in 2019
Denisovan fossil and DNA finds this year highlighted the enigmatic hominid’s complexity and our own hybrid roots.
- Health & Medicine
Measles got a foothold in the United States this year and almost didn’t let go
Areas of low vaccination are blamed for the United States' largest number of measles cases in more than 25 years.
- Genetics
The first U.S. trials in people put CRISPR to the test in 2019
Trials of the gene editor in people began in the United States this year, a first step toward fulfilling the technology’s medical promise.
- Health & Medicine
Surplus chromosomes may fuel tumor growth in some cancers
Extra copies of some genes on excess chromosomes may keep cancer cells growing. Without those extras, cancer cells form fewer tumors in mice.
- Life
Prions clog cell traffic in brains with neurodegenerative diseases
Prions may derail cargo moving inside brain cells, perhaps contributing to cell death in prion diseases.
- Archaeology
A nearly 44,000-year-old hunting scene is the oldest known storytelling art
Cave art in Indonesia dating to at least 43,900 years ago is the earliest known storytelling art, and shows otherworldly human-animal hunters.
- Archaeology
Archaeologists have finally found ancient Egyptian wax head cones
Newly discovered wax caps are the first physical examples of apparel shown in many ancient Egyptian art works.
- Science & Society
Why Rembrandt and da Vinci may have painted themselves with skewed eyes
A strongly dominant eye, not an eye disorder, may explain why some great artists painted themselves with one eye turned outward.
- Health & Medicine
A once-scrapped Alzheimer’s drug may work after all, new analyses suggest
An antibody that targets Alzheimer’s sticky protein amyloid showed promise in slowing mental decline, according to the company that’s developing it.
- Humans
50 years ago, income inequality was severe in the U.S. It still is
In 1969, lower-income households tended to be nonwhite and in the U.S. South. That still holds true today.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists’ brains shrank a bit after an extended stay in Antarctica
The experience of an isolated, long-term mission at an Antarctic research station slightly shrunk a part of crew members’ brains, a small study finds.
