Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Humans have shockingly few ways to treat fungal infections
It's not quite as bad as The Last of Us. But progress has been achingly slow in developing new antifungal vaccines and drugs.
- Chemistry
A chemical in plastics is tied to heart disease deaths
In 2018, over 350,000 excess heart disease deaths were linked to phthalates. More research is needed to fully understand the chemicals' effects.
- Archaeology
Neandertals may have hunted in horse-trapping teams 200,000 years ago
A revised age for a German site indicates that our evolutionary cousins organized horse ambushes around 200,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
How to fight Lyme may lie in the biology of its disease-causing bacteria
The unusual molecular makeup of Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease, may hold clues for understanding and treating the tick-borne disease.
- Science & Society
$1.8 billion in NIH grant cuts hit minority health research the hardest
News of NIH funding cuts have trickled out in recent months. A new study tallies what’s been terminated.
- Health & Medicine
Teens who want to quit vaping have another medication option
The drug varenicline, paired with counseling and text messaging support, helped teens and young adults abstain from vaping in a clinical trial.
- Health & Medicine
Do cold-water plunges really speed post-workout muscle recovery?
A new study is among the first to look at whether cold or hot soaks help women’s muscles rebound from extreme exercise.
- Archaeology
Neandertals invented bone-tipped spears all on their own
An 80,000-year-old bone point found in Eastern Europe challenges the idea that migrating Homo sapiens gave the technology to Neandertals.
- Archaeology
British tin might have fueled the rise of some Bronze Age civilizations
Chemical evidence of tin from coastal British sites reaching Bronze Age Mediterranean societies highlights a supply chain dispute.
- Health & Medicine
Lining medical stents with hairlike fuzz could fend off infections
Implanted tubes that transport bodily fluids can get gross. A lab prototype suggests a new vibration-based way to keep them clean and prevent infection.
- Health & Medicine
A man let snakes bite him 202 times. His blood helped create a new antivenom
A new antivenom relies on antibodies from the blood of Tim Friede, who immunized himself against snakebites by injecting increasing doses of venom into his body.
- Psychology
Playing this Minecraft game hints at how we learn in real life
A tailor-made version of Minecraft let researchers look at the success of learning individually or taking cues from others while foraging for fruit.
