Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Traces of bird flu are showing up in cow milk. Here’s what to know
We asked the experts: Should people be worried? Pasteurization and the H5N1 virus’s route to infection suggests risks to people remains low.
- Health & Medicine
Malaria parasites can evade rapid tests, threatening eradication goals
Genetic mutations are making Plasmodium falciparum, parasites that cause malaria, invisible to rapid tests. New, more sensitive tests could help.
- Neuroscience
Rat cells grew in mice brains, and helped sniff out cookies
When implanted into mouse embryos, stem cells from rats grew into forebrains and structures that handle smells.
- Health & Medicine
Pelvic exams at hospitals require written consent, new U.S. guidelines say
Hospitals must now get written consent to perform pelvic, breast, prostate and rectal exams on sedated patients or risk losing federal funding.
- Health & Medicine
A new U.S. tool maps where heat will be dangerous for your health
The daily updated HeatRisk map uses color coding to show where the health threat from heat is highest and offers tips on how to stay safe.
- Science & Society
Language models may miss signs of depression in Black people’s Facebook posts
Researchers hope to use social media posts to identify population-wide spikes in depression. That approach could miss Black people, a study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Aimee Grant investigates the needs of autistic people
The public health researcher focuses on what kinds of support people with autism need rather than on treating the condition as a disease to cure.
- Neuroscience
These windpipe cells trigger coughs to keep water out of the lungs
Neuroendocrine cells can sense substances on the way to the lungs and prompt reactions such as coughing and swallowing, experiments in mice show.
- Archaeology
A puzzling mix of artifacts raises questions about Homo sapiens' travels to China
A reexamined Chinese site points to a cultural mix of Homo sapiens with Neandertals or Denisovans.
- Health & Medicine
What can period blood reveal about a person’s health?
The FDA recently approved a menstrual blood test for diabetes, the first diagnostic of any kind based on period blood. It may be just the beginning.
- Health & Medicine
Teens are using an unregulated form of THC. Here’s what we know
The compound is called delta-8-THC and, like delta-9-THC in marijuana, comes from the cannabis plant and may hurt teens’ brains.
- Health & Medicine
Immune cells’ intense reaction to the coronavirus may lead to pneumonia
Immune cells that patrol lung tissue may play a role in the progression of a coronavirus infection to pneumonia, lab studies show.
