Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Tech
Stretchy silicon sticker monitors your heartbeat
A new stretchy memory device looks like a temporary tattoo and works like a heart rate monitor.
- Psychology
As suicide rates rise, researchers separate thoughts from actions
Advances in suicide research and treatment may depend on separating thoughts from acts.
- Science & Society
How seeing ‘Star Wars’ satisfies your narcissistic tendencies
Participating in geek culture allows self-identified geeks to satisfy a narcissistic need for expert status, a new study hypothesizes.
- Health & Medicine
Gene behavior distinguishes viral from bacterial infections
Researchers have identified signatures of viral infection, a distinction that may help doctors tell whether bacteria or a virus is causing trouble.
- Science & Society
In science, a lack of replication shouldn’t kill your reputation
The proof is science is when a study is replicated. When it’s not, do scientists suffer? A new study says researchers may overestimate the negative effects.
- Health & Medicine
Anatomy of the South Korean MERS outbreak
The Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, which infected 186 people in South Korea in 2015, quickly spread within and between hospitals via a handful of “superspreaders.”
- Health & Medicine
Cow bites and spacecraft injuries enliven new medical diagnostic codes
The 10th edition of International Classification of Diseases went into effect in 2015, and it included some interesting additions.
- Anthropology
Thigh bone adds to mystery over 14,000-year-old Homo species
Controversial Chinese leg fossil may point to hybrid humans 14,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
To treat the heart, start with the gut
Preventing gut bacteria from making certain chemical compounds reduced artery clogging in mice, researchers report.
