Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Tricks Foods Play
Most people would never equate downing a well-dressed salad or a fried chicken thigh with toking a joint of marijuana. But to Joseph Hibbeln of the National Institutes of Health, the comparison isn’t a big stretch.
- Animals
Face Smarts
Macaques, sheep and even wasps may join people as masters at facial recognition.
- Humans
Africans’ genes mute on human birthplace
Latest DNA studies confirm previous research on the prehistory of African groups, but still can’t locate the root of the species.
- Humans
A moving lift for poor families
Federal housing subsidies didn’t fight poverty as hoped, but trading public housing for new neighborhoods brought psychological benefits.
- Health & Medicine
Oral MS drug passes tests
A drug called BG-12, similar to a psoriasis medicine used in Germany, supresses multiple sclerosis relapses well, two studies find.
- Health & Medicine
Gamblers go all-in on Ritalin
Risk-taking may rise when healthy people use the stimulant to boost concentration.
- Life
DNA tags may dictate bee behavior
Chemical alterations affect genetic activity but not the genes themselves.
- Health & Medicine
Brain’s white matter diminished in isolated mice
Experiments may offer a biological explanation for the social and emotional problems of neglected children.
- Health & Medicine
First dengue vaccine trial disappoints
The shots protect against three of the four viral subtypes, failing to deliver full protection, a study in Thailand shows.
- Health & Medicine
Anti-inflammatories tied to cardiac risk
Heart attack survivors who take ibuprofen or diclofenac appear more likely to die or suffer another attack, a large Danish study finds.
- Life
New swine flu virus could infect people
Strains found in Korean pigs contain gene mutations that make them potentially transmissible to humans.
- Humans
Herders, not farmers, built Stonehenge
Farming’s temporary demise in ancient Britain may have spurred the creation of the iconic stone circle.
