Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Organ age, not just your birthday, may determine your health risks
Blood proteins that reveal some organs age faster than others — and that may predict disease and lifespan.
- Chemistry
Gut microbes may flush ‘forever chemicals’ from the body
Experiments in mice show that some gut bacteria can absorb toxic PFAS chemicals, allowing animals to expel them through feces.
- Animals
Greenland sled dog DNA is a window into the Arctic’s archaeological past
A genomic analysis of Greenland’s Qimmeq dogs suggest they and their human partners arrived on the island centuries earlier than previously thought.
- Animals
As bird flu evolves, keeping it out of farm flocks is getting harder
New versions of the H5N1 virus are increasingly adept at spreading. Suggestions to either let it rip in poultry or vaccinate the birds could backfire.
- Health & Medicine
These 5 nutrients might be lacking in your diet
U.S. diets should include more of vitamins D and E, fiber, calcium and magnesium — all are essential nutrients that could offer health benefits.
- Anthropology
A drowned landscape held clues to the lives of ancient human relatives
The remains of extinct Homo erectus dredged from the seabed off Java, along with thousands of animal fossils, are revealing a long-lost ecosystem.
- Health & Medicine
Chronic low back pain may be less likely if you walk – a lot
Adults who walked more than 100 minutes per day were less likely to have chronic low back pain than those who walked fewer than 78 minutes per day.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine policy in the U.S. is entering uncharted territory
A key advisory group vows to base decisions on evidence, boost confidence in vaccines and protect health. Experts fear the opposite is happening.
- Health & Medicine
A new diabetes treatment could free people from insulin injections
In a small cell therapy trial, 10 out of 12 people with type 1 diabetes no longer needed supplemental insulin, even a year after treatment.
- Health & Medicine
This painless nanoneedle patch might one day replace certain biopsies
Using millions of tiny needles, the patch samples molecular data from inside cells without damaging them, providing intel on composition in minutes.
- Health & Medicine
See how the herpesvirus reshapes our cells’ DNA in just eight hours
New imaging tools reveal how within an hour of infection, the virus begins to alter our chromosomes to kick-start its own replication.
- Climate
Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves
Even without reaching heat wave levels, sustained high temperatures may contribute to a litany of health issues.
