Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Camels implicated as possible hosts of MERS virus
Antibodies to a mysterious pathogen that has sickened 94 people were found in camels in Oman and the Canary Islands.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine protects against malaria in early test
A series of shots enables volunteers to fend off a live infection by the disease-causing parasite.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
High blood glucose levels linked to dementia
Elderly people with elevated blood glucose levels are more apt to develop dementia, whether or not they have diabetes.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Space-mapping neurons found in human brain
Grid cells may orient people in Euclidean space.
- Humans
Y chromosome analysis moves Adam closer to Eve
A pair of genetic studies has pushed back age of men's most recent common ancestor.
By Erin Wayman - Health & Medicine
Going out to lunch zaps mental focus
Sharing a midday meal with friends could lead later to errors at work.
- Anthropology
Mummified Incan teen drank, did drugs
Girl, who was sacrificed, may have been sedated by alcohol, coca leaves.
- Health & Medicine
Full moon may mean less sleep
Slumber waxes and wanes along with lunar rhythm, researchers find with people sleeping in windowless lab.
- Health & Medicine
Gastric bypass surgery causes sugar-burning gut growth in rats
The rapid improvement in symptoms of diabetes, seen in patients before weight loss begins, may be due to changes in part of the intestine.
By Meghan Rosen - Life
A flash of light implants false memories in mice
Researchers alter rodents' recollections by exciting just a few neurons.
- Archaeology
Notorious Bones
South African finds enter fray over origins of the human genus.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
War arose recently, anthropologists contend
Infrequent killings among hunter-gatherer groups fit a scenario of a largely peaceful Stone Age, a study concludes.
By Bruce Bower