Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Brains may be wired to count calories, make healthy choices
Fruit flies appear to make memories of the calories in the food they eat, an observation that may have implications for weight control in humans.
- Health & Medicine
Pink blobs of hope in cancer-targeting quest
Cancer drugs coated with plastic can reach a mouse’s lungs for targeted delivery, but steering the capsules to the right spots can be a challenge.
- Anthropology
Ancient Homo fossils found in Kenya
Finds from three individuals add to skeletal diversity of early members of human genus.
- Health & Medicine
Early birth control study probed effectiveness of pill
A 1960s study probed birth control pills’ effectiveness for women. Researchers are still trying to make a pill for men.
- Anthropology
Footprints offer clues about daily hominid life
Early male members of the human genus spent a lot of time together by the water, as their footprints attest.
- Health & Medicine
A more accurate prenatal test to predict Down syndrome
A test to detect genetic problems such as Down syndrome examines a baby’s DNA in the mother’s blood and may limit the need for more invasive screening.
- Anthropology
Kennewick Man’s bones reveal his diet
Pacific Northwest man who lived 9,000 years ago ate from an almost entirely seafood menu, a new analysis finds.
- Health & Medicine
Injured baby hearts may be coaxed to regenerate
Shots of a growth factor protein reduce cell death in infant mice with heart damage.
- Health & Medicine
Older moms may have options to reduce newborns’ risks
Although babies born to older mothers face a higher danger of congenital heart defects, exercising moms may offset this added risk, a study in mice shows.
- Tech
Exoskeleton boot makes for more efficient walking
Newly developed exoskeleton boots that are unpowered are showing scientists that it is still possible to make walking even more efficient for humans.
- Anthropology
‘Little Foot’ pushes back age of earliest South African hominids
Study suggests Lucy’s species had a South African foil nearly 3.7 million years ago.
- Anthropology
Ancient hominids moved into Greece about 206,000 years ago
New analysis puts people at a contested Greek site about 206,000 years ago.
