Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
How obesity makes it harder to taste
Mice that gained excessive weight on a high-fat diet also lost a quarter of their taste buds.
- Anthropology
Ancient climate shifts may have sparked human ingenuity and networking
Stone tools signal rise of social networking by 320,000 years ago in East Africa, researchers argue.
- Health & Medicine
Hospital admissions show the opioid crisis affects kids, too
Opioid-related hospitalizations for children are up, a sad statistic that shows the opioid epidemic doesn’t just affect adults.
- Neuroscience
How biology breaks the ‘cerebral mystique’
The Biological Mind rejects the idea of the brain as the lone organ that makes us who we are. Our body and environment also factor in, Alan Jasanoff says.
- Neuroscience
Depression among new mothers is finally getting some attention
Scientists search new mothers’ minds for clues to postpartum depression.
- Science & Society
What we do and don’t know about how to prevent gun violence
Background checks work to prevent gun violence; concealed carry and stand-your-ground laws don’t. But lack of data makes it hard to make other links.
- Anthropology
Museum mummies sport world’s oldest tattoo drawings
A wild bull and symbolic designs were imprinted on the bodies of two Egyptians at least 5,000 years ago.
- Science & Society
Discussing what matters when facts are not enough
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute reflects on finding common ground with science and policy.
- Health & Medicine
Newer drugs make hepatitis C-positive kidneys safe for transplant
People without hepatitis C did not contract the disease after receiving successful transplants of infected kidneys along with newer antiviral drugs.
- Anthropology
Humans don’t get enough sleep. Just ask other primates.
Short, REM-heavy sleep bouts separate humans from other primates, scientists find. Sleeping on the ground may have a lot to do with it.
- Artificial Intelligence
In the future, an AI may diagnose eye problems
Artificial intelligence could help diagnose blinding eye diseases and other illnesses, speeding up medical care in areas where specialists might be scarce.
- Health & Medicine
Human skin bacteria have cancer-fighting powers
Strains of a bacteria that live on human skin make a compound that suppressed tumor growth in mice.
