Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Rehab for psychopaths
Psychopaths often don’t fit movie stereotypes, but they share particular characteristics. New research shows that, contrary to popular thought, cognitive behavioral therapy can help some psychopaths stay out of prison.
- Health & Medicine
Antibiotics an alternative to surgery for appendicitis
Doctors could abandon routine surgery for uncomplicated cases of appendicitis, a new study suggests.
- Genetics
Pneumonia bacteria attacks lungs with toxic weaponry
Some strains of the bacteria that causes pneumonia splash lung cells with hydrogen peroxide to mess with DNA and kill cells, a new study suggests.
- Life
Aging: Nature’s way of reducing competition for resources
Aging may have developed in many species as a genetic mechanism to conserve future resources. If the controversial proposal is true, then scientists may be able to greatly extend life span by deactivating the machinery for aging embedded in our DNA.
- Health & Medicine
Unlike moms, dads tend not to coo in squeaky voices
American English-speaking moms dial up their pitch drastically when talking to their children, but dads’ voices tend to stay steady, a new study finds.
- Life
A protein variant can provide protection from deadly brain-wasting
If cannibalism hadn’t stopped, a protective protein may have ended kuru anyway.
- Anthropology
Modern-day trackers reinterpret Stone Age cave footprints
African trackers help researchers interpret ancient human footprints in French caves.
- Anthropology
Human laugh lines traced back to ape ancestors
Chimps make laughing faces that speak to evolution of human ha-ha’s.
- Archaeology
Bronze Age humans racked up travel miles
A new study indicates long journeys and unexpected genetic links in Bronze Age Eurasian cultures.
- Health & Medicine
Rotavirus vaccine is proving its worth
Rotavirus vaccination cuts childhood intestinal infection hospitalizations in half.
- Life
MERS virus didn’t morph in its move to South Korea
No obvious changes in the MERS virus account for its rapid spread in South Korea.
- Life
Tracing molecules’ movement in nails may help fight fungus
Tracking chemicals through the human nail may provide valuable insight for drug development.
