Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Kids are selective imitators, not extreme copycats
Preschool-age kids have a reputation as “overimitators” based on lab tests. But in realistic test situations, kids don’t blindly imitate adults.
- Animals
With a little convincing, rats can detect tuberculosis
TB-sniffing rats prove more accurate in detecting infection, especially in children, than the most commonly used diagnostic tool.
- Humans
The window for learning a language may stay open surprisingly long
A crucial period for language learning may extend well into teen years, a new study suggests.
- Animals
These caterpillars march. They fluff. They scare London.
Oak processionary moths have invaded England and threatened the pleasure of spring breezes.
- Health & Medicine
Is it an invasion of your kids’ privacy to post pictures of them on social media?
Growing up in an online world doesn’t mean that kids don’t care about privacy. Parents should keep this in mind when posting pictures of their kids to social media.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, starving tumors of oxygen proposed as weapon in cancer fight
Starving cancerous tumors of oxygen was proposed to help kill them. But the approach can make some cancer cells more aggressive.
- Health & Medicine
An enzyme involved in cancer and aging gets a close-up
The structure of telomerase, described with the greatest detail yet, may give researchers clues to cancer treatments and other telomerase-related illnesses.
- Genetics
Adapting to life in the north may have been a real headache
A cold-sensing protein has adapted to different local climates, also affecting risk of migraine.
- Health & Medicine
FDA approves the first smallpox treatment
Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
