Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
What was Rosalind Franklin’s true role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix?
Two researchers say that Rosalind Franklin knowingly collaborated with James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the molecular structure of DNA.
- Psychology
Native language might shape musical ability
People who speak tonal languages, where pitch alters meaning, are better at perceiving melody but worse at rhythm than speakers of nontonal languages.
- Health & Medicine
A graphene “tattoo” could help hearts keep their beat
A proof-of-concept electronic heart tattoo relies on graphene to act as an ultrathin, flexible pacemaker. In rats, it treated an irregular heartbeat.
- Archaeology
A prehistoric method for tailoring clothes may be written in bone
A punctured bone fragment was probably a leatherwork punch board. Perforated leather sewn together may have been seams in clothing.
- Humans
‘Period’ wants to change how you think about menstruation
Kate Clancy offers fascinating science and history about the uterus and menstruation in her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.
- Animals
Hibernating bears don’t get blood clots. Now scientists know why
People who sit still for hours have an increased risk of blood clots, but hibernating bears and people with long-term immobility don’t. A key clotting protein appears to be the reason why.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen in birth control could be cut way back, a study suggests
Delivering an extra low dose of estrogen, or a combination of estrogen and progesterone, at a specific time of the menstrual cycle may prevent ovulation.
- Animals
Freshwater leeches’ taste for snails could help control snail-borne diseases
A freshwater leech species will eat snails, raising the possibility that leeches could be used to control snail-borne diseases that infect humans and livestock.
- Science & Society
The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky
The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.
- Archaeology
Hair analysis reveals Europe’s oldest physical evidence of drug use
Analyses of human hair found in a Mediterranean cave turned up psychoactive plant substances, revealing use of hallucinogens around 3,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
What did Homo sapiens eat 170,000 years ago? Roasted, supersized land snails
Charred shell bits at an African site reveal the earliest known evidence of snail-meal prep, suggesting ancient humans cooked and shared the mollusks.
- Health & Medicine
A new battery starves cancer cells of oxygen in mice
When a self-charging battery is placed on a mouse’s tumor and combined with anticancer drugs, it reduced tumor size by 90 percent.
