Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Vaping’s toxic vapors come mainly from e-liquid solvents
New study homes in on a primary source of toxic vaping compounds: the thermal breakdown of solvents used to dissolve flavorings in e-liquids. And older, dirtier e-cigs generate more of these toxicants, study shows.
- Health & Medicine
U.S. lags in road safety
The U.S. tops the list of 19 high-income countries for deaths from motor vehicle crashes.
- Animals
Getting rid of snails is effective at stopping snail fever
For the tropical disease snail fever, managing host populations is more effective than drugs.
- Anthropology
Humans, birds communicate to collaborate
Bird species takes hunter-gatherers to honeybees’ nests when called on.
- Neuroscience
Antibiotics might fight Alzheimer’s plaques
A new study found that antibiotics hit Alzheimer’s plaques in the brains of mice.
- Health & Medicine
Nail-biting and thumb-sucking may not be all bad
Nail-biters and thumb-suckers may actually be warding off allergies by introducing germs to their mouths, a new study suggests.
- Neuroscience
New brain map most detailed yet
By combining different types of data, researchers have drawn a new detailed map of the human brain.
- Health & Medicine
Anesthesia steals consciousness in stages
Brains regions that are synchronized when awake stop communicating as monkeys drift off.
- Health & Medicine
IVF doesn’t up long-term breast cancer risk, study says
A Dutch study of more than 25,000 women over two decades suggests that IVF-treated women are no more likely to get breast cancer than other women.
- Health & Medicine
No one-fits-all healthy diet exists
Mice’s response to diet varies with their genes.
- Science & Society
GM mosquitoes succeed at reducing dengue, company says
GM mosquito releases in Brazil have helped cut dengue cases 91 percent in a year.
- Health & Medicine
First case of woman-to-man spread of Zika via sex reported
The first known case of female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika virus has been reported in New York City.
