Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Psychology

    Some fights vanish in plain sight

    People engrossed in a task frequently overlook the seemingly obvious, such as a loud brawl.

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  2. Life

    Ketamine’s antidepressant effect explained

    A potential fast-acting treatment boosts the brain chemical BDNF, which may be lacking in depression.

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  3. Humans

    Human mutation rate slower than thought

    First direct measurements show that the number of genetic typos inherited from each parent can be highly skewed toward either mom or dad.

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  4. Humans

    Humans

    War spawns cooperation, plus microloan payoffs, preschool’s benefits and more in this week’s news.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Body & Brain

    Fat joins suite of tastes, plus crossword vision, metastasis clues and more in this week’s news.

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  6. Tech

    Social Networks

    Power networks in Congress, Twitter’s crystal ball and iPhone contagion in news from an MIT workshop on information in social media.

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  7. Humans

    Traditional Chinese medicine: Big questions

    Just because traditional Chinese medicines have been used for a long time is no guarantee they’re efficacious or safe. How would we know? It turns out this question is hard to answer — even for the Chinese.

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  8. Life

    Genetics offers more hints about autism

    Three studies illustrate why a single cause for autism spectrum disorders has been so difficult to pin down.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    PHOTOCAP: Deadly bugs

    Toxin-producing E. coli strain causes outbreak in Germany.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Drug prevents some breast cancers

    A hormone-blocking compound can waylay some malignancies in healthy women who are deemed at risk.

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  11. Humans

    Site hints at Asian roots for human genus

    An early Homo species inhabited the Caucasus region 1.85 million years ago, casting doubt on its proposed African origin.

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  12. Humans

    Humans

    Lewis and Clark’s gale encounter, nixing college lectures, divorce’s toll on kids and more in this week’s news

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