Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Highlights from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists annual meeting, Portland, Ore., April 11-14
Shorts on Stone Age finds in Southeast Asia, chatting among Neandertal ancestors and early cannibalism.
- Humans
Ancient walking gets weirder
Fossil footprints and bones suggest variations among human ancestors in upright gait and stance.
- Life
Baboons show their word skills
Monkeys learn to distinguish words from nonwords, suggesting ancient evolutionary roots for reading.
- Health & Medicine
Movie clips help ease drug craving
Images of heroin may prove useful in treating addiction.
- Health & Medicine
Why emotions are attention-getters
Strong, direct connections between two key brain centers help explain how feelings can usurp focus.
- Humans
Warming Marches in
People may argue about why Earth is warming, how long its fever will last and whether any of this warrants immediate corrective action. But whether Earth is warming is no longer open to debate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has just published domestic examples to reinforce what Americans witnessed last month — either on TV or in their own backyards.
- Humans
Bat killer is still spreading
Since 2006, some 6 million to 7 million North American bats have succumbed to white-nose syndrome, a virulent fungal disease. That figure, issued in January by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, at least sextupled the former estimate that biologists had been touting. But the sharp jump in the cumulative death toll isn’t the only disturbing new development. On April 2, scientists confirmed that white-nose fungus has apparently struck bats hibernating in two small Missouri caves. The first signs of clinical disease have also just emerged in Europe.
- Health & Medicine
Autism linked to obesity in pregnancy
Association may spark research into a possible biological mechanism.
- Humans
Chemists distinguish between gunshot residue from various firearms
Analytical technique could lead to better crime scene investigation.
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- Humans
Yet another study links insecticide to bee losses
Since 2006, honeybee populations across North America have been hammered by catastrophic losses. Although this pandemic has a name — colony collapse disorder, or CCD — its cause has remained open to speculation. New experiments now strengthen the case for pesticide poisoning as a likely contributor.
- Health & Medicine
Extreme eaters show abnormal brain activity
Seeing images of food revs up reward areas in the obese and slows them down in severely underweight people, a brain scan study shows.
