Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Racing for answers on Zika
In the latest issue of Science News, Editor in Chief Eva Emerson talks Zika virus, microbes, nutrition and mental health.
- Health & Medicine
Microbes can play games with the mind
Our bodies are having a conversation with our microbiome that may be affecting our mental health — for better or worse.
- Neuroscience
Brain holds more than one road to fear
A study on rare patients suggests that fear can take many paths through the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Three big reasons why U.S. men have a shorter life expectancy
U.S. men’s lives are two years shorter than men in other rich countries for three reasons: guns, drugs and cars.
- Health & Medicine
Special Report: Here’s what we know about Zika
Tracing Zika’s path and its potential links to microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barré syndrome has scientists planning a new war on mosquitoes.
- Health & Medicine
How Zika became the prime suspect in microcephaly mystery
New evidence in human cells strengthens the case against Zika in Brazil's microcephaly surge, but more definitive proof could come this summer from Colombia.
- Humans
Pacific islanders got a double whammy of Stone Age DNA
Neandertal and Denisovan genes influence the health of present-day Melanesians.
- Health & Medicine
Efforts to control mosquitoes take on new urgency
The major mosquito that is spreading Zika virus has quirks that make it one of the toughest to fight.
- Neuroscience
Lost memories retrieved for mice with signs of Alzheimer’s
Using light, scientists coaxed a forgotten memory from the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
- Anthropology
Ancient DNA reveals who is in Spain’s ‘pit of bones’ cave
Ancient DNA shows Neandertals lived in northern Spain 430,000 years ago; the early date raises new questions about Neandertals’ origins.
- Ecosystems
FDA predicts no significant environmental impact from GM mosquitoes
The FDA has taken a step in the process of deciding whether to allow the first test release in the United States of genetically modified mosquitoes to fight diseases such as Zika.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s how dust mites give dermatitis sufferers the itch
Dust mites can make people with eczema truly miserable. Now, scientists have figured out why they make some people scratch, and resolved a dermatological debate.
