Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
A firm grip may predict risk of death better than blood pressure
The strength of people’s grip could predict how likely they are to die if they develop cardiovascular or other diseases.
- Psychology
Quantity counts for baboons
Counting-like logic helps baboons track and compare accumulating sets of peanuts.
- Genetics
How to rewire the eye
The cutting-edge technology called optogenetics may offer a workaround to partially restore vision even after the retina’s light-sensing rods and cones die.
- Animals
Early research asked whether cats dream
Early research asked whether cats dream; researchers still don’t know definitively.
- Genetics
Quicker sepsis diagnosis may be a step closer
Identifying genes linked with sepsis may make it possible to develop a blood test to diagnose the infection days sooner than current methods.
- Genetics
MicroRNAs track radiation doses
MicroRNAs in the blood may indicate radiation damage, a study of mice finds.
- Health & Medicine
Birth-weight boost tied to cleaner air during Beijing Olympics
Babies whose eighth month of gestation fell during the 2008 Beijing Olympics were born slightly heavier than babies born a year earlier or later, a stark indication of the effects of pollution on development.
- Health & Medicine
Too much light slows brown fat, suggesting link with obesity
Brown fat is supposed to be the friendly kind, but making the days longer with artificial light may turn it into an enemy in the battle against obesity.
- Genetics
Molecular scissors snip at cancer’s Achilles’ heel
Finding cancer’s vulnerable spots using CRISPR technology could lead to drugs that hit the disease hard.
- Genetics
Humans and Neandertals mated more recently than thought
Neandertals and humans interbred in Europe until shortly before Neandertals went extinct.
- Health & Medicine
Children’s cells live on in mothers
A baby's cells knit their way into a mother’s body.
- Health & Medicine
Kids who have had measles are at higher risk of fatal infections
Measles infection leaves kids vulnerable to other infectious diseases for much longer than scientists suspected.
