Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Science & Society
Pressure to conform to social norms may explain risky COVID-19 decisions
As a science reporter covering COVID-19, I knew I should mask up at Disney World. Instead, I conformed, bared my face and got COVID-19.
- Archaeology
A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice
The mummified remains contained a substance that may reduce anxiety and is found in ayahuasca, a psychedelic ceremonial liquid still drunk today.
- Humans
Prehistoric people may have used light from fires to create dynamic art
When brought near flickering flames, prehistoric stone engravings of animals seem to move, experiments with replicas and virtual reality show.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s the latest good and bad news about COVID-19 drugs
After coronavirus vaccines, antivirals and a monoclonal antibody are the next line of defense, but the treatments may be hard for some people to find.
- Humans
Eating meat is the Western norm. But norms can change
A meat-heavy diet, with its high climate costs, is the norm in the West. So social scientists are working to upend normal.
- Health & Medicine
How to wash chicken in the kitchen more safely, according to physics
Despite the advice of health experts, most people who cook chicken at home wash it. New research offers ways to reduce spreading dangerous germs.
- Psychology
Latin America defies cultural theories based on East-West comparisons
Theories for how people think in individualist versus collectivist nations stem from East-West comparisons. Latin America challenges those theories.
- Neuroscience
A very specific kind of brain cell dies off in people with Parkinson’s
Of out 10 kinds of dopamine-making nerve cells, only one type is extra vulnerable in Parkinson’s disease.
- Archaeology
Ancient ‘smellscapes’ are wafting out of artifacts and old texts
In studying and reviving long-ago scents, archaeologists aim to understand how people experienced, and interpreted, their worlds through smell.
- Animals
Some hamsters are extremely susceptible to COVID-19
Golden Syrian hamsters used in research and popular as pets can become infected with SARS-CoV-2 with very low doses of the virus, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
The body’s response to allergic asthma also helps protect against COVID-19
A protein called IL-13 mounts defenses that include virus-trapping mucus and armor that shields airway cells from infection.
- Health & Medicine
How I decided on a second COVID-19 booster shot
Boosters help for a short time, and mixing vaccines doesn’t seem to push the immune system toward making unhelpful antibodies, studies show.
