Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Anthropology

    Ancient pottery maps route to South Pacific

    New Guinea pottery points to a key meeting of island natives and seafarers at least 3,000 years ago.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Microbes make the meal, new diet book proposes

    Researcher Tim Spector skewers conventional thinking about weight loss in ‘The Diet Myth’

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  3. Materials Science

    Nanogenerators harvest body’s energy to power devices

    Nanogenerators offer body-harvested energy to fuel bionic future

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  4. Neuroscience

    The need to feed and eating for pleasure are inextricably linked

    Scientists used to think that the hunger and the pleasure from food could be easily distinguished. But new results show these systems are inextricably intertwined.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Vaccinated man excretes live poliovirus for nearly 3 decades

    For almost 30 years, a man with an immune deficiency has been shedding poliovirus strains that have evolved from the version he received in a vaccine.

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  6. Psychology

    Psychology results evaporate upon further review

    Less than half of psychology findings get reproduced on second tries, a study finds.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Earlier is better for HIV treatment

    People infected with HIV benefit from starting a drug regimen early, an international study finds.

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  8. Humans

    Moon bounces, bad spider leaders and more reader feedback

    Readers debate faith's role in evolution, compare politicians to spiders and more.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Blood test can predict breast cancer relapse

    Blood tests for breast cancer DNA can predict relapse.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Virus closely related to hepatitis A discovered in seals

    Scientists have discovered a relative of the hepatitis A virus in seals.

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  11. Neuroscience

    Altered protein makes mice smarter

    By tweaking a single gene, scientists have turned average mice into supersmart daredevils.

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  12. Anthropology

    Chilean desert cemetery tells tale of ancient trade specialists

    Burial site holds clues to ancient trade brokers in Chilean desert.

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