Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
A universal flu shot may be nearing reality
Scientists are developing a universal vaccine against flu, making annual shots a thing of the past.
- Life
Gut fungi might be linked to obesity and inflammatory bowel disorders
Fungi are overlooked contributors to health and disease.
- Chemistry
A potential drug found in a sea creature can now be made efficiently in the lab
Cooking bryostatin 1 up in a lab lets researchers explore its potential as a drug.
- Health & Medicine
In many places around the world, obesity in kids is on the rise
The last 40 years saw a big leap in obesity among children, totaling an estimated 124 million boys and girls in 2016.
- Genetics
We’re more Neandertal than we thought
Neandertals contributed more to human traits than previously thought.
- Science & Society
Economics Nobel nudges behavioral economist into the limelight
Behavioral economist Richard Thaler started influential investigations of behavioral economics, which earned him the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
- Archaeology
Europe’s Stone Age fishers used beeswax to make a point
Late Stone Age Europeans made spears with beeswax adhesive.
- Neuroscience
New book offers a peek into the mind of Oliver Sacks
The wide-ranging essays in Oliver Sacks’ ‘The River of Consciousness’ contemplate evolution, memory and more.
- Genetics
Ancient humans avoided inbreeding by networking
Ancient DNA expands foragers’ social, mating networks.
- Health & Medicine
Parenting advice gets a fact-check
A new website called Parentifact attempts to fight parenting misinformation.
- Computing
M. Ehsan Hoque develops digital helpers that teach social skills
Computer scientist M. Ehsan Hoque programs emotionally attuned assistants that bring people together.
- Anthropology
Christina Warinner uncovers ancient tales in dental plaque
Molecular biologist Christina Warinner studies calculus, or fossilized dental plaque, which contains a trove of genetic clues to past human diet and disease.
