Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Psychology
That beard is only hot because it’s not cool
There’s more to facial hair than whether you can grow it. A new study shows that attractiveness increases when your style of facial hair is rare.
- Health & Medicine
Triclosan aids nasal invasions by staph
The antimicrobial compound triclosan, commonly found in soaps and toothpaste, may help Staphylococcus aureus stick around.
- Anthropology
Laetoli footprints show signs of unusual gait
Contrary to prior study, 3.6-million-year-old hominids in Tanzania did not walk like humans.
- Anthropology
Earliest case of a battered child found in Greece
A baby living in Athens around 2,200 years ago was probably beaten to death.
- Anthropology
Ancient boy died surprisingly young
Imaging analysis reduces age of Australopithecus sediba youngster from 9 to 7.5 years old.
- Anthropology
Turkana Boy sparks row over Homo erectus height
Estimating the adult height and weight of an ancient youth from his skeleton has proven tricky.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C treatment appears extremely effective
A mix of four medications has provided the most effective way to date to counter the hepatitis C virus in humans.
- Computing
App could cut jet lag short
A new app calculates lighting schedules to help travelers adjust quickly to new time zones.
- Life
Common lung infection suffocates with single protein
A Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, protein creates clumps of dead, bloblike lung cells.
- Health & Medicine
Changes in kids’ genomes linked to chronic stress
In a study of 40 nine-year-old boys, kids from underprivileged backgrounds had telomeres that were 19 percent shorter than those of boys from more privileged environments.
- Health & Medicine
If your kid hates broccoli, try, try again
Repeated exposure to foods may be the antidote to picky eating.
- Humans
Father’s obesity linked to autism in children
A father-to-be’s body mass may be a greater risk factor for his child’s development of autism than the body mass of the mother.
