Humans

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  1. Health & Medicine

    How some ticks protect themselves from deadly bacteria on human skin

    A gene that ticks acquired from bacteria 40 million years ago may help the arachnids keep potential pathogens at bay while feeding on blood.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    As 2020 comes to an end, here’s what we still don’t know about COVID-19

    After making fast progress understanding COVID-19, researchers are still in search of answers.

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  3. Archaeology

    Ancient people may have survived desert droughts by melting ice in lava tubes

    Bands of charcoal from fires lit long ago, found in an ice core from a New Mexico cave, correspond to five periods of drought over 800 years.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Here’s what you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccines

    There are still important unknowns about how Pfizer’s vaccine and others will work once they get injected in people around the world.

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  5. Archaeology

    Two stones fuel debate over when America’s first settlers arrived

    Stones possibly used to break mastodon bones 130,000 years ago in what is now California get fresh scrutiny.

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  6. Humans

    Ancient humans may have deliberately voyaged to Japan’s Ryukyu Islands

    Satellite-tracked buoys suggest that long ago, a remote Japanese archipelago was reached by explorers on purpose, not accidentally.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    The ‘last mile’ for COVID-19 vaccines could be the biggest challenge yet

    The need for cold storage and booster shots could create problems for distributing coronavirus vaccines to nearly everyone in the world.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    The U.K. is the first country to authorize a fully tested COVID-19 vaccine

    Pfizer will deliver the first of 40 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine promised to the United Kingdom in the coming days.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Health care workers and long-term care residents should get COVID-19 vaccines first

    With an initial 40 million doses of the vaccines, enough for 20 million people, anticipated by year-end, health officials are setting priorities.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Long-lasting shots work better than daily pills to prevent HIV in at-risk women

    A more discreet HIV prevention method — a shot once every eight weeks —could help to boost use in women at risk.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Coronavirus shutdowns don’t need to be all or nothing

    Governments are implementing more targeted restrictions like limiting restaurant capacity to slow a fall surge. Research suggests they could work.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    The FDA has approved the first drug to treat the rapid-aging disease progeria

    Children with a rare genetic disorder called progeria age quickly and often die before they are 15. A newly approved drug may give them more time.

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