Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Young infants have perceptual superpowers

    Babies have superpowers that let them see and hear things that adults can’t.

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  2. Archaeology

    Roman toilets didn’t flush parasites

    Roman sanitation measures did little to dent parasite numbers, a study finds.

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  3. Archaeology

    Roman toilets didn’t flush parasites

    Roman sanitation measures did little to dent parasite numbers, study finds.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    New dietary guidelines emphasize big picture

    Americans’ new guidelines for healthy eating focus on subtle shifts to dietary habits.

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  5. Genetics

    The Iceman tells a new tale: Infection with ulcer-causing bacteria

    Ötzi the Iceman was infected with a virulent strain of H. pylori. A new study is the first to piece together an ancient genome of these bacteria.

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  6. Life

    Gene tweak led to humans’ big toe

    For lack of gene regulator, the human big toe appeared.

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  7. Microbes

    Get to know your microbes at ‘The Secret World Inside You’

    The American Museum of Natural History’s newest exhibit rehabilitates bacteria’s bad reputation and introduces visitors to the microbiome.

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  8. Psychology

    Kids grasp words as symbols before learning to read

    Preschoolers grasp that written words refer to specific things before they learn to read.

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  9. Neuroscience

    Shrub cells are true to form

    New cell types discovered in the brains of mice

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  10. Health & Medicine

    High-intensity interval training has great gains — and pain

    Intense spurts of activity followed by brief rest can improve heart health, blood glucose and muscle endurance. But some question if the pain of HIIT workouts will impede the popularity.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    50 years ago, a promising agent pulled

    DMSO was promised to cure everything from headache to the common cold. But human testing stopped in 1965.

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  12. Science & Society

    Climate, new physics and Jupiter on the horizon for 2016

    The first issue of the new year features stories about what will, editor in chief Eva Emerson predicts, hold on as scientific newsmakers during 2016.

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