Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Life

    Babies low on key gut bacteria at higher risk of asthma

    Asthma risk may be set early in life, but mice data suggest that the risk could altered by friendly gut bacteria.

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  2. Anthropology

    Ancient hominid ears were tuned to high frequencies

    Two ancient hominid species may have heard high-frequency sounds especially well.

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  3. Anthropology

    Ancient hominid ears were tuned to high frequencies

    Two ancient hominid species may have heard high-frequency sounds especially well.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    What makes cells stop dividing and growing

    Scientists have found that the protein GATA4 helps control cellular senescence, and may be a target for treating aging-related diseases.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Having sex doesn’t trigger heart attacks, study suggests

    Sex doesn’t trigger heart attacks, study of patients with cardiovascular disease suggests.

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  6. Anthropology

    More than 9,000-year-old decapitated head discovered in Brazil

    Human decapitation goes back more than 9,000 years in the Americas.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Balloons-and-glue device seals remote wounds inside the body

    To repair damaged tissue, surgeons can deliver a glue patch using two balloons and a blast of UV light.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Coffee serves up surprising health benefits

    Reporting on the current state of research allows readers to see beyond the single, sometimes conflicting public health messages that medical studies produce.

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  9. Anthropology

    Handed-down tales tell of ancient sea level rise

    Australian Aborigines tell tales of actual, ancient sea-level rises, a contested study finds.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Isaac Kinde: Finding cancer via altered genes

    Isaac Kinde helped create a technology that can spot cancers early to give patients a better chance at survival.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    For kids learning new words, it’s all about context

    By recording the first three years of life, researchers get hints about a child’s language development.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Study finds benefits from lowering blood pressure, but questions remain

    Preliminary results from NIH clinical trial suggest that lower blood pressure is better, but scientists have not yet published the data and open questions remain.

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