Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Ancient hominids used wooden spears to fend off big cats
Saber-toothed cat remains suggest ancient hominids used wooden spears as defensive weapons.
- Health & Medicine
Parasite gives a man cancer
Tapeworms can kick parasitism up a notch to become cancer, a case in Colombia shows.
- Neuroscience
Blood exerts a powerful influence on the brain
Instead of just responding to the energy needs of neurons, the blood can have a direct and powerful influence on the brain.
- Anthropology
Early globalization on display in history of Eurasian civilization
It was a long, strange trip from the first Eurasian farmers to the modern world.
- Psychology
No, cheese is not just like crack
Recent news reports claimed that a study shows cheese is addictive. But the facts behind the research show cheese and crack have little in common.
- Anthropology
Petite primate fossil could upend ideas about ape evolution
Ancient fossils suggest modern apes descended from a small, gibbonlike creature.
- Anthropology
Synchronized dancing boosts pain tolerance
Dancing in sync to high energy routines increase pain tolerance and helps people bond as a group, a study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Daily drug shown effective in preventing HIV infections
After a history of controversy, preexposure prophylaxis has been demonstrated to work for HIV prevention.
- Health & Medicine
Eating meat officially raises cancer risk
Eating processed meats like bacon, ham and sausage causes cancer, says the World Health Organization.
- Psychology
Views on bias can be biased
When presented with a study showing bias against women, male scientists are more inclined to nitpick the results. But a little intervention can go a long way toward gender equality in science.
- Neuroscience
Signs of Alzheimer’s seen in young brain’s GPS cells
Signs of Alzheimer’s can show up in the brain’s compass decades before symptoms strike.
- Anthropology
Plagues plagued the Bronze Age
Ancient bacterial DNA provides first clues to Bronze Age plagues in Europe and Asia.
