Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Handheld device turns smartphone into diagnostic tool
A compact device can process a blood sample to diagnose HIV or syphilis when attached to a smartphone.
- Health & Medicine
E-cigarettes lower immunity to flu and other germs
Electronic cigarettes produce substantial amounts of lung inflammation, a new mouse study finds. They may also reduce the ability to fight off infections from strep and flu germs.
- Humans
Baby brains undergo dramatic changes in utero
Developing human brains experience more than 28,000 changes in a molecular process that governs gene activity.
- Anthropology
Ancient Maya bookmakers get paged in Guatemala
New discoveries peg ritual specialists as force behind bark-paper tomes and wall murals.
- Health & Medicine
Even when correct, diagnoses can harm kids
Overdiagnosis is well documented in adults but is often overlooked in children and can lead to unnecessary treatments.
- Neuroscience
Newly identified brain circuit could be target for treating obesity
In mice, specific nerve cells control compulsive sugar consumption, but not normal feeding, hinting at a new therapeutic target for treating obesity.
- Health & Medicine
Ebola vaccine performs well in U.K. human trial
A vaccine that protects against the Zaire strain of Ebola turns in promising preliminary results from a human trial.
- Anthropology
Israeli fossil may recast history of first Europeans
New find suggests humans mated with Neandertals in Middle East before taking on Europe.
- Neuroscience
Immune system may remember and adapt to stress
Mice without immune systems who receive stressed immune cells are less anxious and more social, suggesting that the immune system can adapt to stress.
- Agriculture
Superbugs take flight from cattle farms
Winds can carry antibiotics and drug-resistant bacteria from cattle farms to downwind communities.
- Anthropology
Scans tell gripping tale of possible ancient tool use
South African fossils contain inner signs of humanlike hands, indicating possible tool use nearly 3 million years ago.
- Life
When bacteria-killing viruses take over, it’s bad news for the gut
A rise in some bacteria-killing viruses in the intestines may deplete good bacteria and trigger inflammatory bowel diseases.
