Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Denisovans inhabited Taiwan, new fossil evidence suggests
An expanding geographic range for these close Neandertal relatives leaves Denisovans' evolutionary status uncertain.
- Health & Medicine
A shadowy market for weight-loss drugs has emerged online
People are buying semaglutide and tirzepatide, the key ingredients in Ozempic and Zepbound, from unconventional sources. Doctors have safety concerns.
- Neuroscience
Memory manipulation is the stuff of sci-fi. Someday it could be real
Experiments point to how scientists can strengthen or weaken memories, which may eventually lead to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease or PTSD.
- Climate
A lush, green Arabian Desert may have once linked Africa and Asia
Mineral formations in caves reveal recurring periods of humidity in the Arabian Desert over the last 8 million years.
- Archaeology
Stone Age hunter-gatherers may have been surprisingly skilled seafarers
New archaeological finds in Malta add to an emerging theory that early Stone Age humans cruised the open seas.
- Anthropology
Rare books covered with seal skin hint at a medieval trade network
The furry seal skins may have made their way to French monasteries from as far away as Greenland.
- Health & Medicine
The U.S. measles outbreak shows no signs of slowing
As a second Texas child dies from the preventable disease, HHS Secretary Kennedy is now urging measles vaccination yet still touting unproven treatments.
- Archaeology
Ancient Arabian cymbals ring up Bronze Age musical connections
Copper instruments discovered at a 4,000-year-old site in Oman echo ritual influences from South Asia.
- Health & Medicine
How U.S. public health cuts could raise risks of infectious diseases
Deep funding cuts and widespread layoffs impact everything from local public health outreach to global disease surveillance, making us more vulnerable, experts warn.
- Health & Medicine
A shingles vaccine may also help reduce dementia risk
Analysis of a Welsh program offering live-attenuated shingles vaccines to people born after a certain date showed a 20 percent relative drop in dementia risk.
- Health & Medicine
Skin cells emit slow electric pulses after injury
The electric skin cell signals, which move at glacial pace compared to those in nerve cells, may play a role in initiating healing.
- Health & Medicine
A new antifungal drug works in a surprising way
Mandimycin, which targets a different essential fungi cell resource than other antifungal drugs, should harm other cell types as collateral — but doesn’t.
