Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Monkey brains sensitive to others’ flubs

    Some of the brain’s nerve cells are programmed to light up only upon witnessing another’s error.

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  2. Life

    Rabies resistance arises in backwater thick with vampire bats

    Residents of two remote Peruvian communities appear to have survived infection by the deadly virus.

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  3. Animals

    Epidemic of skin lesions reported in reef fish

    A British-Australian research team has just found coral trout living on the south side of the Great Barrier Reef sporting dark skin raised, scablike, brown-black growths. Although the authors believe they’ve stumbled onto an epidemic of melanoma — a type of skin cancer — other experts have their doubts. Strong ones.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Alzheimer’s protein could help in MS

    A-beta, the same molecule that has been tied to dementia when it accumulates in the brain, appears to reduce damage when introduced to the bodies of mice with symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

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  5. Humans

    DNA hints at African cousin to humans

    Complete genetic profiles of people from three hunter-gatherer groups suggest Homo sapiens interbred with a now-extinct species on the continent relatively recently.

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  6. Anthropology

    Sticks, stones and bones reveal emergence of a hunter-gatherer culture

    A cave in southern Africa was occupied by people very much like those living in the region today.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    19th International AIDS Conference

    Highlights from the AIDS meeting, July 22-27, Washington, D.C.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    19th International AIDS Conference

    Highlights from the AIDS meeting, July 22-27, Washington, D.C.

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  9. Humans

    Top airports for spreading germs ID’d

    Major hubs with far-flung flights are most efficient at launching pandemics.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    News Briefs: Body & Brain

    How deaf people process other senses, a gene variant that protects against Alzheimer's, and special cells that wrap and feed neural extensions

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Cartilage Creation

    New joint tissue could keep people moving, reducing need for knee or hip replacements.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    The Brain Set Free

    Lifting neural constraints could turn back time, making way for youthful flexibility.

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