Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Archaeology

    Stonehenge may have had roots in a Welsh stone circle

    Ancient migrants to southern England brought the makings of the iconic monument with them, researchers suspect.

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  2. Archaeology

    Humans made a horn out of a conch shell about 18,000 years ago

    Ancient find may have sounded off during rituals in a cave adorned with wall art.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    How coronavirus variants may drive reinfection and shape vaccination efforts

    New coronavirus variants could infect people who have already recovered from COVID-19 or been vaccinated, but there are still many unknowns.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    The animals that ticks bite in the U.S. South can impact Lyme disease spread

    Ticks in the north primarily attach to mice, which do a good job of infecting them with Lyme bacteria, setting up the spread to people.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Nearly half a million U.S. children missed out on lead tests in early 2020

    A big drop in routine lead tests, which can identify children with elevated blood levels, is another troubling sign of the pandemic’s toll.

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  6. Archaeology

    An ancient Egyptian mummy was wrapped in an unusual mud shell

    Commoners in ancient Egypt may have used mud in place of expensive resin to imitate royal mummification techniques.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    COVID-19 precautions may be reducing cases of flu and other respiratory infections

    The same efforts to prevent COVID-19’s spread can keep other respiratory infections at bay. But once we go back to normal, outbreaks could be larger.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Diabetes during pregnancy is tied to heart trouble later in life

    Gestational diabetes may increase a woman’s risk of having hardened arteries later in life, a long-term study finds.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    The antidepressant fluvoxamine could keep mild COVID-19 from worsening

    Newly infected patients who chose to take fluvoxamine quickly recovered, while 12.5 percent who didn’t wound up hospitalized.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    What do COVID-19 vaccines mean for daily life in the months ahead?

    Effective COVID-19 vaccines are a ray of hope. But masks and distancing are still necessary, especially with contagious variants spreading.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    One-shot COVID-19 vaccine is effective against severe disease

    The effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine at preventing hospitalization and death holds up against a South Africa variant of the coronavirus.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective, but less so with some variants

    Novavax’s vaccine fends off the original coronavirus and a U.K. variant, but had more trouble with a South Africa variant.

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