Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Auditory test predicts coma awakening
While all patients in a new study could discriminate between sounds early on, those whose ability improved during the first 48 hours wound up recovering.
- Earth
Mexican silver made it into English coins
Chemical tests of currency help reveal where New World riches flowed.
- Psychology
Highlights from the Psychonomic Society annual meeting
Summaries from the conference held November 15-18 in Minneapolis.
- Psychology
Word-detecting baboons are a tough read
New models offer contrasting views of monkeys’ ability to identify frequently seen letter pairs.
- Health & Medicine
Protein’s destructive journey in brain may cause Parkinson’s
Clumps of alpha-synuclein move through dopamine-producing cells, mouse study finds.
- Humans
Oldest examples of hunting weapon uncovered in South Africa
A common ancestor of people and Neandertals may have flung stone-tipped shafts at animal prey.
- Life
Ebola may go airborne
Infected pigs can transmit virus to primates without contact, a new study finds.
- Anthropology
Highlights from the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting
Iceman’s origins, DNA fingerprinting, microRNAs and cancer risk, and growth genes and obesity risk.
- Humans
Ancient hominid had an unusual diet
A long-extinct member of the human evolutionary family had an uncommon taste for grasses and sedges.
- Health & Medicine
Infant stress linked to teen brain changes
Girls, but not boys, showed later changes in brain regions that regulate emotions.
- Humans
An ancient civilization’s wet ascent, dry demise
Cave data suggest that ancient rainfall patterns swayed the course of Classic Maya societies.
- Humans
Red state, blue state
Resizing geographic areas by population gives more accurate view of 2012 election.
