Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
Drone photos reveal an early Mesopotamian city made of marsh islands
Urban growth around 4,600 years ago, near what is now southern Iraq, occurred on marshy outposts that lacked a city center.
- Health & Medicine
Cooperative sperm outrun loners in the mating race
Sperm that swim in clusters travel more directly toward the uterus, while overcoming fluid currents in the reproductive tract.
- Humans
Here’s where jazz gets its swing
Swing, the feeling of a rhythm in jazz music that compels feet to tap, may arise from near-imperceptible delays in musicians’ timing, a study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Losing amphibians may be tied to spikes in human malaria cases
Missing frogs, toads and salamanders may have led to more mosquitoes and potentially more malaria transmission, a study in Panama and Costa Rica finds.
- Health & Medicine
‘Breathless’ explores COVID-19’s origins and other pandemic science
In his new book, David Quammen examines what we’ve learned about SARS-CoV-2 and puts the pandemic in the context of previous coronavirus scares.
- Health & Medicine
Genetics of human evolution wins 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
By figuring out how to extract DNA from ancient bones, Svante Pääbo was able to decipher the genomes of our hominid relatives.
- Humans
How to get a crying baby to sleep, according to science
Science has come up with a recipe for lulling a crying baby to sleep: Carry them for five minutes, sit for at least five more and then lay them down.
- Health & Medicine
Christopher Barnes is on a quest for a universal coronavirus vaccine
Christopher Barnes wants to stop the viruses that cause COVID-19, the common cold and more.
- Science & Society
Big questions inspire the scientists on this year’s SN 10 list
These scientists to watch study climate change, alien worlds, human evolution, the coronavirus and more.
- Neuroscience
Emily Jacobs wants to know how sex hormones sculpt the brain
Emily Jacobs studies how the brain changes throughout women’s reproductive years, plus what it all means for health.
- Anthropology
Tina Lasisi wants to untangle the evolution of human hair
Tina Lasisi is pioneering studies of human variation in an ethical and scientifically sound way.
- Health & Medicine
Smruthi Karthikeyan turned to wastewater to get ahead of COVID-19
Smruthi Karthikeyan’s system for tracking the coronavirus gives lifesaving public health measures a head start.
