Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Breathe easy
When it comes to heart function, the concentration of pollution in the air may matter less than its chemical makeup.
- Astronomy
Galaxy Zoo’s blue mystery (part 2)
Featured blog: The enigmatic "Voorwerp" may be a dwarf galaxy lit by the ghostly echoes of a long-gone quasar.
- Psychology
Simpleminded Voters
An innovative research technique has led researchers to conclude that well-informed voters often use simple rules of thumb to sift through mountains of campaign information and pick the candidate who best reflects their own political views.
- Plants
Forest invades tundra
The Arctic tundra is under assault from trees, with serious implications for global climate change.
- Chemistry
Catching your breath
Scientists are investigating how to use the human breath to diagnose diseases and environmental ills.
- Humans
Worth the cooties
Boys who attend preschool classes with a majority of girls do better developmentally than other boys.
- Physics
Galaxy Zoo’s blue mystery (part I)
A Dutch science teacher found a novel celestial object that had eluded the notice of astronomers.
- Health & Medicine
Stomaching diabetes
A new way to treat diabetes could recruit cells in the gut to make insulin when the pancreas can’t.
- Health & Medicine
Take a chill pill, T cell
Targeting a receptor on immune cells may hold promise for treating multiple sclerosis and asthma.
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- Health & Medicine
Coloring the body
Color MRI scans may one day be possible, thanks to microscopic, tunable magnets.
- Anthropology
Numbers beyond words
New research with Amazonian villagers suggests that their language lacks number words but that they still comprehend precise quantities of objects.
