Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
The Ultimate Colonists
Human ancestors managed to adjust to life in a variety of ecosystems during the Stone Age, indicating that their social lives were more complex than they've often been given credit for.
- Health & Medicine
Lethal Emergence: Tracing the rise of dengue fever in the Americas
Using the genetics of viruses, scientists have tracked a virulent form of dengue virus in Latin America back to its roots in India.
- Health & Medicine
Soy Greens—The Coming Health Food?
Soybeans have gained renown for offering a host of health benefits. Not only do diets rich in products made from this legume appear to protect against heart disease and some cancers, but they also help to preserve bones in aging bodies. Yum? Diets augmented with leaves of the soybean plant might help diners control their […]
- Humans
From the July 1, 1933, issue
SEVEN MUMMIES FROM TEXAS CAVE BROUGHT TO SMITHSONIAN Seven mummies preserved apparently by natural dryness of the Texas cave where they were buried, have just been received by the Smithsonian institution. The mummies shed new light on the prehistoric cave dwellers of the Big Bend region of Texas whose cave shelters have been explored in […]
- Health & Medicine
Prostate Health
Many men over age 50 rarely sleep through the night. Instead, they find themselves awake and needing to urinate when, as younger men, this rarely happened. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases offers an excellent resource on the most common cause of frequent and urgent urination in men–benign prostatic hyperplasia, or […]
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- Health & Medicine
Can poliovirus fix spinal cord damage?
Scientists have devised a version of the poliovirus that can deliver genes to motor neurons without harming them, a step toward a gene therapy that reawakens idle neurons in people with spinal cord damage.
- Archaeology
Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues
An 800-year-old Anasazi site in Colorado yields contested evidence of cannibalism.
- Humans
Ideal Justice: Mathematicians judge the Supreme Court
The current U.S. Supreme Court of nine judges behaves as if it were made up of 4.68 "ideal" justices who make their decisions completely independently, a mathematical analysis suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Prevention in a Pill? Baldness drug might avert prostate cancer
The drug finasteride, given to alleviate baldness and prostate problems, might prevent some cases of prostate cancer.
- Health & Medicine
McDonald’s Cutback in Antibiotics Use Could Reduce Drug-Resistant Bacteria
The fast-food chain McDonald’s announced on June 19 that it will stop its farms under contract from feeding chicken, cattle, and pigs certain antibiotics intended to accelerate the animals’ growth. That step might slow or reverse the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can infect people, scientists say. HAPPIER MEAL. Coming soon to a McDonald’s near […]
- Humans
From the June 24, 1933, issue
LIGHTNING Lightning, most awesome of the spectacular forces of nature, has yielded some of its mystery to science. But not all. We no longer credit it, as did our ancestors, to an angry Zeus or an impetuous Thor. Since Ben Franklin flew his adventurous kites, nearly two centuries ago, we know it is “made of […]
