Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
The way hunter-gatherers share food shows how cooperation evolved
Camp customs override selfishness and generosity when foragers divvy up food, a study of East Africa’s Hazda hunter-gatherers shows.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, a flu pandemic spurred vaccine research
A half-century after the Hong Kong flu pandemic, scientists are getting closer to a universal vaccine.
- Health & Medicine
Kidney stones grow and dissolve much like geological crystals
Kidney stones are dynamic entities that grow and dissolve, a new study finds, which contradicts the prevailing medical assumption.
- Health & Medicine
Drug overdose deaths in America are rising exponentially
Tracking rising numbers of deaths from a variety of drugs over the past 38 years shows that it isn’t just an opioid problem.
- Agriculture
Can science build a better burger?
Researchers hope to replace whole animal agriculture and feed the world with lab-made meats or plants.
- Health & Medicine
Daily low-dose aspirin is not a panacea for the elderly
Healthy elderly adults don’t benefit from a daily dose of aspirin, according to results from a large-scale clinical trial.
- Science & Society
Readers focus on fake news, neutrinos, and more
Readers pondered how to effectively combat fake news, questioned the result of a clinical trial, and wanted to know more about neutrinos.
- Tech
A sensor inspired by an African thumb piano could root out bogus medicines
An inexpensive, user-friendly device that’s based on an mbira could help identify counterfeit and contaminated medications.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s how many U.S. kids are vaping marijuana
A new study suggests that nearly 1 in 11 middle and high school students in the United States has vaped marijuana, raising concerns about addiction.
- Neuroscience
Brain features may reveal if placebo pills could treat chronic pain
Researchers narrow in on how to identify people who find placebos effective for treating persistent pain.
- Anthropology
Butchered bird bones put humans in Madagascar 10,500 years ago
Humans reached the island near Africa 6,000 years earlier than thought, raising questions about how its megafauna went extinct.
- Archaeology
This South African cave stone may bear the world’s oldest drawing
The Stone Age line design could have held special meaning for its makers, a new study finds.
