Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Cattle’s Call of the Wild: Domestication may hold complex genetic tale
A new investigation of DNA that was obtained from modern cattle and from fossils of their ancient, wild ancestors challenges the idea that herding and farming groups in the Near East domesticated cattle about 11,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Sleight of Herb: Black cohosh mislabeled in medicinal products
A sizable fraction of the herbal supplements marketed as preparations of black cohosh contains none of that North American plant.
- Humans
Legal Debate: Assumptions on medical malpractice called into question
The notion that many medical-practice lawsuits are frivolous and intended to generate undeserved riches for their plaintiffs and lawyers isn't borne out in a new study.
- Anthropology
Making sacrifices in Stone Age societies
A half-dozen burials at sites in Europe and western Asia dating to between 27,000 and 23,000 years ago provide clues to possible human sacrifices.
- Anthropology
Digging up debate in a French cave
A scientific debate has broken out over whether a French cave excavated more than 50 years ago contains evidence of separate Stone Age occupations by Neandertals and modern humans.
- Anthropology
Neandertals take out their small blades
Excavations of Neandertal artifacts have yielded a trove of thin, double-edged stone blades that researchers usually regard as the work of Stone Age people who lived much later.
- Anthropology
Ancient islanders get a leg up
A new analysis of bones from a tiny evolutionary cousin of people found on a Pacific island indicates that these late Stone Age individuals carried a lot of weight on short frames and had extremely strong legs.
- Health & Medicine
An aging protein?
The defective protein that, when defective, causes a premature-aging disease may also play a role in normal aging.
- Health & Medicine
Predicting Parkinson’s
Scientists are searching for ways to detect the earliest signs in the brain of Parkinson's disease.
- Humans
From the May 2, 1936, issue
Atomic bullets, exploding cornstarch, and an unstable solar system.
- Health & Medicine
Defending against a Deadly Foe: Vaccine forestalls fearsome virus
A single injection of an experimental vaccine prevents infection by the lethal Marburg virus in monkeys.
- Anthropology
Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly modern spine supported human ancestor
Bones from a spinal column discovered at a nearly 1.8-million-year-old site support the controversial possibility that ancient human ancestors spoke to one another.
