Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Doritos in Space
Today, a huge European radar-transmitter system sent an ad for a cheesy snack radiating out into space.
- Archaeology
Resurrection of a biblical tree
Date palm pit found at Masada sprouts at age 2,000, becoming the oldest known seed to germinate.
- Health & Medicine
No babies, no hormones
A radically different form of contraception would prevent pregnancies with small molecules of RNA.
- Humans
Wash Your Veggies!
The lesson in all of these food-poisoning outbreaks is that we must not expect a risk-free food-supply chain.
- Humans
Teacher Certification Increases, But . . .
Rigorous standards exist for what teachers should know and be able to do. The rub: only about three U.S. teachers out of every five schools have demonstrated they meet those standards.
- Health & Medicine
Virus versus virus
Customized RNA snippets delivered by a harmless virus could someday provide a new way to combat the hepatitis B virus.
- Health & Medicine
Seeing disease’s acidic side
Small tumors can be detected using a new technique that safely, reliably and noninvasively measures tissue chemistry.
- Humans
Symbolic snacks
Capuchin monkeys can reason with tokens as they do with different foods, demonstrating a basic capacity for thinking symbolically.
- Health & Medicine
Parasite payback
The protozoan parasite that causes leishmaniasis seems vulnerable to the anticancer drug tamoxifen, research in mice shows.
- Health & Medicine
Time on their side
Review of a decade's worth of major league baseball games shows a slight cost in performance in teams with jet lag.
- Health & Medicine
Thanks for the pounds, Mom
When inherited from mom, a gene linked to obesity and diabetes interferes with blood sugar metabolism.
- Climate
Polar Bear Fallout
Why fights are likely to break out in the next few months to years between industry, environmental advocates, and the feds as regulations are developed, and litigated, over how to conserve declining numbers of polar bears.
