Humans
Sign up for our newsletter
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
From the April 13, 1935, issue
A giant meteorite discovered in Kansas, gasoline made from coal in Germany, and elastic rock layers deep in the earth.
By Science News - Anthropology
Stone Age Cutups: Deathly rituals emerge at Neandertal site
A new analysis of 130,000-year-old fossils found in a Croatian cave a century ago suggests that Neandertals ritually cut up corpses of their comrades and perhaps engaged in cannibalism.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Messy Mix? Combined vaccine yields fewer antibodies
Some common childhood vaccines don't seem to work as well when administered with, or at the same time as, other vaccines.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Letters from the April 16, 2005, issue of Science News
Ax questions, hard answers Another hypothesis for the polish on the Stone Age corundum ax head is that the Stone Age people never had absolutely pure corundum, which indeed would have required diamond to polish (“In the Buff: Stone Age tools may have derived luster from diamond,” SN: 2/19/05, p. 116). It is possible that […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Smelly garlic: A lung tonic?
Fresh garlic or its powdered equivalent might prevent a potentially lethal condition in which pulmonary blood pressure is selectively elevated.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Blood hints at autism’s source
A new biochemical profile in blood may lead to earlier diagnosis of autism and a better understanding of its genetic causes.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Viagra might rescue risky pregnancies
Viagra shows promise for limiting threats of fetal loss from preeclampsia, a type of high blood pressure that frequently occurs during pregnancy.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
The Race to Prescribe
Race-based medicine could be a stepping-stone to the higher goal of targeting medicines toward the genetics of individual patients, but some researchers are troubled by the implications of practicing medicine according to patients' racial identities.
By Ben Harder - Humans
From the April 6, 1935, issue
Early cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., nebulae as remnants of exploded stars, and 6,000-year-old leftovers.
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Molecular Switch: Protein may influence chronic-pain disorder
A cell-surface protein found in the nervous system may play a central role in a chronic-pain condition known as neuropathy.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
Untangling Ancient Roots: Earliest hominid shows new, improved face
New fossil finds and a digitally reconstructed skull bolster the claim that the oldest known member of the human evolutionary family lived in central Africa between 6 million and 7 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Detecting cancer in a flash
Instant identification of cancer cells may become possible following experiments demonstrating that healthy and cancerous cells alter laser light in different, and distinguishable, ways.
By Peter Weiss