Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Self-destructing mitochondria may leave some brain cells vulnerable to ALS
Mitochondria that appear to dismantle themselves in certain brain cells may be a first step toward ALS, a mouse study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
A new dengue vaccine shows promise — at least for now
The latest vaccine against dengue shows promise in protecting children from the disease, but will need longer term study to ensure kids are safe from future infections.
- Health & Medicine
A human liver-on-a-chip may catch drug reactions that animal testing can’t
An artificial organ may better predict serious drug side effects than animal testing does.
- Humans
Fossils suggest tree-dwelling apes walked upright long before hominids did
A partial skeleton from an 11.6-million-year-old European ape still doesn’t answer how hominids adopted a two-legged gait.
- Health & Medicine
Running just once a week may help you outpace an early death
Any amount of running can lower a person’s risk of early death, an analysis of multiple studies finds.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, cancer vaccines were a dream
Researchers are now prodding the immune system to fight cancer, reviving the longtime dream of creating cancer vaccines.
- Science & Society
Can neighborhood outreach reduce inner-city gun violence in the U.S.?
While mass shootings grab U.S. headlines, the steady scourge of inner-city gun violence gets less attention — and fewer solutions.
- Archaeology
A toe bone hints that Neandertals used eagle talons as jewelry
An ancient eagle toe bone elevates the case for the use of symbolic bird-of-prey pendants among Neandertals, researchers say.
- Health & Medicine
New details on immune system ‘amnesia’ show how measles causes long-term damage
Measles wipes the memories of immune cells in the body.
- Humans
Humans’ maternal ancestors may have arisen 200,000 years ago in southern Africa
New DNA findings on humankind’s maternal roots don’t offer a complete picture of how and when Homo sapiens emerged.
- Humans
Dating questions challenge whether Neandertals drew Spanish cave art
A method used to date cave paintings in Spain may have overestimated the art’s age by thousands of years, putting its creation after Neandertal times.
- Humans
Quarrying stone for Easter Island statues made soil more fertile for farming
Easter Island’s Polynesian society grew crops in soil made especially fertile by the quarrying of rock for large, humanlike statues, a study suggests.
