Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
The psychology of J.C. Penney: Why shoppers like it when retailers play games with prices
Last year, J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson put an end to “fake prices,” the ones that customers see but rarely pay because of coupons and sales. Instead, the clothing retailer decided to sell items at cheaper everyday prices in an effort to “stop playing games” with consumers. By June, Johnson had conceded that this strategy […]
- Health & Medicine
Circumcision changes penis biology
Altered mix of microbes might reduce susceptibility to viral infections.
- Psychology
Disputed signs of consciousness seen in babies’ brains
Within five months of birth, infants produce a possible neural marker of being aware of what they see.
-
- Health & Medicine
The Human Brainome Project
Obama announces ambitious plan to develop new tools for exploring neural circuitry.
- Life
Infants, whether mice or human, love to be carried
Being toted around calms and quiets babies of both species.
- Health & Medicine
Colic in infancy linked to migraines later in childhood
No tie found between colicky babies and later tension headaches.
- Health & Medicine
Bioengineered kidney transplanted into rat
Cleansed of cells and repopulated anew, bioengineered organ successfully produces urine.
- Life
New bird flu claims more victims
H7N9 influenza spreads to Beijing, may come from poultry and pigeons.
- Humans
Group size affects racial makeup of friend groups
Larger settings seem to promote segregation, simulation finds.
- Anthropology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting
Perhaps the oldest swatch of hominid skin yet found and –tzi the iceman’s Neandertal genetics are among the highlights from the physical anthropology meeting.
- Humans
Ardi’s kind had a skull fit for a hominid
Study of reconstructed skull section puts 4.4-million-year-old species in human evolutionary family.
