Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
5 misunderstandings of pregnancy biology that cloud the abortion debate
The Supreme Court’s scrapping of Roe v. Wade shifts decisions about related health care to states. Accurate science is often missing in those talks.
- Health & Medicine
Western wildfires’ health risks extend across the country
As western wildfires become more common, hazardous smoke is sending people — especially children — to emergency rooms on the East Coast.
- Health & Medicine
Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines are OK’d for the youngest kids
Babies, toddlers and preschoolers could begin getting immunized against COVID-19 as early as June 21 in the United States.
- Archaeology
Ancient bacterial DNA hints Europe’s Black Death started in Central Asia
Archaeological and genetic data pin the origins of Europe’s 1346–1353 bubonic plague to a bacterial strain found in graves in Asia from the 1330s.
- Health & Medicine
Nasal vaccines for COVID-19 offer hope and face hurdles
A squirt up the nose could reduce virus transmission, but like shots in the arm, the nasal vaccines have challenges to overcome.
- Anthropology
A new origin story for domesticated chickens starts in rice fields 3,500 years ago
Chickens, popular on today’s menus, got their start in Southeast Asia surprisingly recently, probably as exotic or revered animals, researchers say.
- Neuroscience
Glial cells may take on big jobs in unexpected parts of the body
Scientists are finding mysterious glia in the heart, spleen and lungs and wonder what they’re doing there.
- Health & Medicine
Trained dogs sniff out COVID-19 as well as lab tests do
Dogs can be trained to sniff out COVID-19 cases. They’re overall as reliable as PCR tests and even better at IDing asymptomatic cases, a study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Missing COVID-19 data leave us in the dark about the current surge
Yankee Candle reviews and wastewater testing offer indirect hints, but we’re “flying blind,” says data expert Beth Blauer of Johns Hopkins University.
- Health & Medicine
4 answers to key questions about the monkeypox outbreak
Monkeypox has cropped up around the world, but it doesn’t spread easily like the coronavirus and most people probably don’t need to be concerned.
- Archaeology
Lasers reveal ancient urban sprawl hidden in the Amazon
South America’s Casarabe culture built a network of large and small settlements in what’s now Bolivia centuries before the Spanish arrived.
- Health & Medicine
Unexplained hepatitis cases in kids offer more questions than answers
There is a lot that is unclear about the hepatitis that’s impacting several hundred children worldwide, but parents shouldn’t panic.
