Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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- Humans
Neandertals’ mammoth building project
Stone Age people’s evolutionary cousins may have constructed earliest bone structures.
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- Health & Medicine
Immune booster also works in reverse
Injections of the protein interleukin-2 can calm runaway defenses that damage tissues in the body, two studies show.
- Health & Medicine
Weaker brain links found in psychopaths
Decreased communication between emotional and executive centers may contribute to the mental disorder.
- Humans
Germs’ persistence: Nothing to sneeze at
Years ago, I read (probably in Science News) that viruses can’t survive long outside their hosts. That implied any surface onto which a sneezed-out germ found itself — such as the arm of a chair, kitchen counter or car-door handle — would effectively decontaminate itself within hours to a day. A pair of new flu papers now indicates that although many germs will die within hours, none of us should count on it. Given the right environment, viruses can remain infectious — potentially for many weeks, one of the studies finds.
- Humans
Cooking can be surprisingly forgiving
Network analysis confirms deviations from the recipe are quite feasible.
- Chemistry
Radiation sickness treatment shows promise
The regimen could be used to protect large numbers of people in the aftermath of major accidents such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.
- Health & Medicine
Getting the picture of how someone died
CT scans can often reveal a clear cause of death, possibly making some autopsies unnecessary, British researchers find.
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- Humans
Matt Crenson, Reconstructions
Tools tell a more complicated tale of the origin of the human genus.
- Health & Medicine
Coffee delivers jolt deep in the brain
Caffeine strengthens electrical signals in a portion of the hippocampus, a study in rats finds.
