Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
An Illinois patient’s death may be the first in the U.S. tied to vaping
Officials have announced one death among nearly 200 patients with severe lung illnesses that are potentially related to vaping.
- Health & Medicine
Marijuana and meth are getting more popular in America, but cocaine has declined
In 2006, drug users spent more on cocaine than on heroin, marijuana or methamphetamine. By 2016, marijuana expenditures had exceeded the other drugs.
- Health & Medicine
Vaping may have sent 153 people to hospitals with severe lung injuries
In the last two months, 16 U.S. states have reported 153 people hospitalized with lung injuries that may be tied to vaping.
- Health & Medicine
High blood pressure throughout middle age may increase the risk of dementia
A pattern of high blood pressure during midlife followed by high or low readings in one’s golden years is linked to dementia.
- Anthropology
A tiny skull fossil suggests primate brain areas evolved separately
Digital reconstruction of a fossilized primate skull reveals that odor and vision areas developed independently starting 20 million years ago or more.
- Humans
India’s Skeleton Lake contains the bones of mysterious European migrants
Not all of the hundreds of skeletons found at a north Indian lake are from the same place or period. What killed any of these people is still unknown.
- Life
Electrodes show a glimpse of memories emerging in a brain
Nerve cells in an important memory center in the brain sync their firing and create fast ripples of activity seconds before a recollection resurfaces.
- Life
Alzheimer’s targets brain cells that help people stay awake
Nerve cells in the brain that are tied to wakefulness are destroyed in people with Alzheimer’s, a finding that may refocus dementia research.
- Humans
A new FDA-approved drug takes aim at a deadly form of tuberculosis
The antibiotic could help tackle extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills tens of thousands each year.
- Humans
The first chlamydia vaccine has passed a major test
A clinical trial for a vaccine against the sexually transmitted disease found that the product provoked an immune response.
- Life
CRISPR enters its first human clinical trials
The gene editor will be used in lab dishes in cancer and blood disorder trials, and to directly edit a gene in human eyes in a blindness therapy test.
- Humans
Engraved bones reveal that symbolism had ancient roots in East Asia
Denisovans might have etched line patterns on two animal bone fragments more than 100,000 years ago in what’s now northern China.
