Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Human brains rounded into shape over 200,000 years or more
Ancient humans’ brains slowly but surely became round, scientists say.
- Cosmology
Readers wonder about the universe’s expansion and more
Readers had questions about the universe's accelerating expansion, a hidden void in the Great Pyramid of Giza and what happens to human waste in space.
- Genetics
Baby macaques are the first primates to be cloned like Dolly the Sheep
Scientists have cloned two baby macaque monkeys with the same technique used to clone Dolly. The research could help advance the cloning of other species.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s the key ingredient that lets a centipede’s bite take down prey
A newly identified “spooky toxin” launches a broad attack but might be eased with a version of a known drug.
- Anthropology
‘First Face of America’ explores how humans reached the New World
New documentary shows how an ancient teen and an infant have illuminated scientists’ understanding of the peopling of the Americas.
- Health & Medicine
New twist on a flu vaccine revs up the body’s army of virus killers
A new approach to flu vaccine development makes influenza virus extra sensitive to a powerful antiviral system.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, IUDs were deemed safe and effective
50 year ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared intrauterine devices safe and effective, though officials didn’t know how the IUDs worked.
- Anthropology
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle could help explain superior ability to ID smells
Hunter-gatherers in the forests of the Malay Peninsula prove more adept at naming smells than their rice-farming neighbors, possibly because of their foraging culture.
- Health & Medicine
Evidence grows that normal childbirth takes longer than we thought
Another study finds that labor lasts longer than is traditionally taught — an insight that could mean fewer unnecessary cesarean deliveries.
- Anthropology
DNA solves the mystery of how these mummies were related
Two ancient Egyptian mummies known as the Two Brothers had the same mother, but different dads.
- Health & Medicine
Not all strep infections are alike and it may have nothing to do with you
Add-on genes in some bacteria shape the way strains interact with the immune system.
- Microbes
A new gel could help in the fight against deadly, drug-resistant superbugs
An antibacterial ointment breaks down the defenses of drug-resistant microbes such as MRSA in lab tests.
