Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
After vaccinating 95 percent of adults, a Brazilian city is returning to normal
An experiment to vaccinate all adults against COVID-19 in Serrana shows that widespread immunization drastically cuts hospitalizations and deaths.
- Health & Medicine
A repurposed TB vaccine shows early promise against diseases like diabetes and MS
The potentially helpful effect of the BCG vaccine on type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases is beginning to make sense.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccinating people in developing countries costs far less than doing nothing
Shots for half the adults in those countries will cost $9.3 billion, the Rockefeller Foundation reports. Doing nothing could cost trillions.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s what we know about the risks of serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccines
Allergic reactions, blood clots and possibly heart problems are rare and their risks don’t outweigh the benefits of getting vaccinated, experts say.
- Anthropology
Hunter-gatherers first launched violent raids at least 13,400 years ago
Skeletons from an ancient African cemetery bear the oldest known signs of small-scale warfare.
- Archaeology
To find answers about the 1921 race massacre, Tulsa digs up its painful past
A century ago, hundreds of people died in a horrific eruption of racial violence in Tulsa. A team of researchers may have found a mass grave from the event.
- Health & Medicine
Here are answers to 3 persistent questions about the coronavirus’s origins
Calls to double down on investigations into where SARS-CoV-2 came from — nature or a lab accident — are rising as answers remain scarce.
- Neuroscience
Playing brain training games regularly doesn’t boost brainpower
Comparing brain training program users with those who don’t do the mini brain workouts, scientists found no proof that the regimens boosted brainpower.
- Archaeology
The oldest known tattoo tools were found at an ancient Tennessee site
Sharpened turkey leg bones may have served as tattoo needles between 5,520 and 3,620 years ago, at least a millennium earlier than previously thought.
- Genetics
A gene-based therapy partially restored a blind man’s vision
Light-activated proteins inserted in eye nerve cells and special goggles help the man, who lost his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa, see objects.
- Health & Medicine
The CDC’s changes to mask guidelines raised questions. Here are 6 answers
Experts weigh in on the U.S. CDC’s recommendation fully vaccinated individuals removing masks indoors and what it means for the pandemic’s future.
- Health & Medicine
Cleaning indoor air may prevent COVID-19’s spread. But it’s harder than it looks
The size and setup of a room and how the room is used make finding simple ventilation and filtration solutions difficult.
