Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
Humans may not be able to handle as much heat as scientists thought
Humans’ capacity to endure heat stress may be lower than previously thought — bad news as climate change leads to more heat waves around the globe.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what to do when someone at home has COVID-19
Creating an isolation ward and filtering the air can prevent viral transmission.
- Humans
Ancient DNA links an East Asian Homo sapiens woman to early Americans
Genetic clues point to a Late Stone Age trek from southwestern China to North America.
- Health & Medicine
The world is ‘losing the window’ to contain monkeypox, experts warn
As the global monkeypox outbreak surges, the world is giving the “virus room to run like it never has before,” researchers say.
- Neuroscience
Herminia Pasantes discovered how taurine helps brain cells regulate their size
Mexican scientist Herminia Pasantes spent decades studying how nerve cells regulate their size and why it’s so vital.
- Health & Medicine
A new technology uses human teardrops to spot disease
A proof-of-concept technique to analyze microscopic particles in tears could give scientists a new way to detect eye disease and other disorders.
- Health & Medicine
Here are experts’ answers to questions about COVID-19 vaccines for little kids
Pediatricians recommend that parents vaccinate their kids, toddlers and babies against COVID-19 to protect them from coronavirus infection.
- Health & Medicine
Two pig hearts were successfully transplanted into brain-dead people
The transplants kept the patients’ blood flowing for three days and are an early step in figuring out if the procedure might work in living people.
- Science & Society
‘Virology’ ponders society’s relationship with viruses
In a collection of wide-ranging essays, microbiologist Joseph Osmundson reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for “a new rhetoric of care.”
- Anthropology
Demond Mullins climbed Everest to inspire more Black outdoor enthusiasts
Mullins hopes his successful Mount Everest summit will encourage more Black people to experience the great outdoors.
- Health & Medicine
The flowery scent of a Zika or dengue infection lures mosquitoes
Mice and humans infected with dengue emit acetophenone, attracting bloodsucking mosquitoes that could then transmit the viruses to new hosts.
- Health & Medicine
College COVID-19 testing can reduce coronavirus deaths in local communities
Counties with colleges that did COVID-19 testing fared better against the coronavirus in fall 2020 than towns with colleges that did not test.
