Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    FDA approves the first smallpox treatment

    Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.

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  2. Anthropology

    Butchered rhino bones place hominids in the Philippines 700,000 years ago

    Stone tools and butchery marks point to an ancient hominid presence on islands in the Philippines.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Synthetic opioids involved in more deaths than prescription opioids

    Winning a ghastly contest, synthetic opioids become most common drug involved in U.S. overdose deaths, bypassing prescription opioids in 2016.

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  4. Archaeology

    How a backyard pendulum saw sliced into a Bronze Age mystery

    A saw no one has seen may have built Bronze Age Greek palaces.

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  5. Anthropology

    Anthropologists in Peru have unearthed the largest known child sacrifice

    The largest known mass sacrifice of children occurred around 550 years ago in the Chimú empire in Peru.

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  6. Archaeology

    Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age

    Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.

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  7. Psychology

    In China, coffee shop habits show cultural differences tied to farming

    Farming histories have shaped behavior in northern and southern China.

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  8. Archaeology

    Clues to an Iron Age massacre lie in what the assailants left behind

    Ancient Scandinavian massacre may reflect power struggles after Rome’s fall.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    The first penis-scrotum transplant is the latest to go beyond lifesaving

    Advances that give patients new faces, hands and more aim to improve quality of life

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Though often forgotten, the placenta has a huge role in baby’s health

    Recent research in mice suggests that a lot of early problems in the embryo may actually have roots in the placenta.

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  11. Science & Society

    Informed wisdom trumps rigid rules when it comes to medical evidence

    Narrative reviews of medical evidence offer benefits that the supposedly superior systematic approach can’t.

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  12. Anthropology

    A hole in an ancient cow’s skull could have been surgery practice

    Before performing skull operations on people, ancient surgeons may have rehearsed on cows.

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