New data suggest October 2019 could be SARS-CoV-2's origin date. Here’s the timeline

New data suggest October 2019 could be SARS-CoV-2’s origin date. Here’s the timeline

Rebecca Sohn | Live Science | 
A joint WHO study by Chinese and international researchers identified 174 SARS-CoV-2 infections throughout December, with the earliest going back ...
Those infected with the Delta variant may be carrying more than a thousand times more viral particles than prior variants

Those infected with the Delta variant may be carrying more than a thousand times more viral particles than prior variants

Yasemine Saplakoglu | Live Science | 
People infected with the delta variant of the novel coronavirus may be carrying more than a thousand times more virus ...
On average, women live 5 years longer than men. It’s mostly genetics

On average, women live 5 years longer than men. It’s mostly genetics

Tara Santora | Live Science | 
Around the world, women live longer, on average. So why do women tend to outlive men?  Two of the main ...
Simone Biles is suffering from what gymnasts call the ‘twisties.’ It’s a real and dangerous phenomenon

Simone Biles is suffering from what gymnasts call the ‘twisties.’ It’s a real and dangerous phenomenon

Nicoletta Lanese | Live Science | 
American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from several Olympic events [recently], including the latest withdrawal from the vault and uneven bars ...
With treatments for COVID still elusive, CRISPR offers promise in preliminary tests

With treatments for COVID still elusive, CRISPR offers promise in preliminary tests

Rachel Rettner | Live Science | 
Scientists have harnessed CRISPR gene-editing technology to block the replication of the novel coronavirus in human cells — an approach ...
Deadly COVID mutation wild card: Frightening lessons from the 1918 Spanish flu recovery

Deadly COVID mutation wild card: Frightening lessons from the 1918 Spanish flu recovery

Tom Metcalfe | Live Science | 
The influenza virus that caused the 1918 pandemic mutated into variants, much like the novel coronavirus has done in the ...
Homo sapiens reevaluated: Why the definition of ‘modern human’ is undergoing a revamp

Homo sapiens reevaluated: Why the definition of ‘modern human’ is undergoing a revamp

Sarah Wild | Live Science | 
One definition of a species is: "Groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups," according ...
Hairy oddballs: Why are humans the only animal to grow hair on our heads but almost none on our bodies?

Hairy oddballs: Why are humans the only animal to grow hair on our heads but almost none on our bodies?

Tara Santora | Live Science | 
Fur keeps animals warm when it's cold at night and protects them from the sun during the day. Human ancestors ...
‘Great ape-like brains’: Early humans who first ventured out of Africa 1.5 million years ago had 'monkey brains'

‘Great ape-like brains’: Early humans who first ventured out of Africa 1.5 million years ago had ‘monkey brains’

Laura Geggel | Live Science | 
Early humans still had great ape-like brains, according to a new study that found modern humans evolved to have our ...
Lunar DNA ark? Scientists want to cryogenically store the genes of 6.7 million species on the moon, just in case

Lunar DNA ark? Scientists want to cryogenically store the genes of 6.7 million species on the moon, just in case

Harry Baker | Live Science | 
[A “lunar ark” gene bank, could] be safely hidden in [the moon's] hollowed-out tunnels and caves sculpted by lava more ...
Survival of the brainiacs: Controversial new thesis says humans evolved smarter to capture smaller prey

Survival of the brainiacs: Controversial new thesis says humans evolved smarter to capture smaller prey

Stephanie Pappas | Live Science | 
As the largest animals on the landscape disappeared, the scientists propose, human brains had to grow to enable the hunting ...
More than 50 environmental chemicals found in pregnant women and their newborns

More than 50 environmental chemicals found in pregnant women and their newborns

Ashley Taylor | Live Science | 
Researchers have detected more than 50 new environmental chemicals lurking in people's bodies, the vast majority of which are little ...
What did Lucy and the Taung child look like? Early human ancestors get reconstructed faces

What did Lucy and the Taung child look like? Early human ancestors get reconstructed faces

Laura Geggel | Live Science | 
For the reconstructions of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), the oldest and most complete human ancestor when researchers discovered her 3.2 million-year-old ...
Dreamers can ‘talk’ to scientists and solve problems while asleep

Dreamers can ‘talk’ to scientists and solve problems while asleep

Patrick Pester | Live Science | 
People dream every night, but scientists don't fully understand why we dream. Studying dreams is difficult because people often forget ...
Hundreds of novel coronaviruses likely lurking in animal species around the world

Hundreds of novel coronaviruses likely lurking in animal species around the world

Nicoletta Lanese | Live Science | 
[New research] identifies hundreds of animal species that may become infected with known coronaviruses, although many of these infections haven't ...
Womb temperature determines the sex of the offspring in many reptiles. Why not in humans?

Womb temperature determines the sex of the offspring in many reptiles. Why not in humans?

Charles Choi | Live Science | 
Temperature controls sex determination, in all crocodilians, most turtles, many fish, and some lizards, according to organismal biologist Karla Moeller ...
We were never alone: How many human species have existed?

We were never alone: How many human species have existed?

Benjamin Plackett | Live Science | 
When it comes to figuring out exactly how many distinct species of humans existed, it gets complicated pretty quickly, especially ...
A vaccine for melanoma? It might soon be possible

A vaccine for melanoma? It might soon be possible

Nicoletta Lanese | Live Science | 
Unlike vaccines that prevent infections, such as measles and influenza, cancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy that take down ...
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How long do most mammal species survive before going extinct?

Tara Santora | Live Science | 
How long do species usually last before they go extinct? It turns out the answer we find now could be ...
COVID immunity could last years, even decades, study suggests — but we can’t know for sure

COVID immunity could last years, even decades, study suggests — but we can’t know for sure

Nicoletta Lanese | Live Science | 
[W]e won't know exactly how long immunity lasts without continuing to study those who have recovered from COVID-19. However, [a] new study, ...
brain opener free

How the brain bends our sense of time

Yasemin Saplakoglu | Live Science | 
Time in the brain doesn't follow the steady ticking of the world's most precise clocks. Instead, it seems to fly by ...
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‘From plate to poop’: Why corn survives digestion and what it means for your health

Donavyn Coffey | Live Science | 
Corn has a way of staying intact from plate to poop. The bright yellow kernels found in our favorite summer ...
personality

Can you change your personality as you age?

Isobel Whitcomb | Live Science | 
Personality is the pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors unique to a person. People tend to think of personality as fixed. But ...
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What would life on Earth be like if humans were wiped out?

Emma Bryce | Live Science | 
What would happen to our planet — to our cities, to our industries, to nature — if humans disappeared? There ...
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DNA shows Neanderthals mated with humans in two waves, not just once

Stephanie Pappas | Live Science | 
[A]ncient humans mated with Neanderthals between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, well before the more recent, and better-known mixing of the two ...
prehistoria

Discovery of fire lit up human evolution. When did it occur?

Tara Santora | Live Science | 
Scientists suspect that without a control over fire, humans probably would never have developed large brains and the benefits that ...
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Are we any closer to understanding what consciousness is?

Grant Currin | Live Science | 
Thinkers have spent an immense amount of time and ink trying to unravel mysteries, such as how consciousness works and ...
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How humans might play a role in our own extinction

Emma Bryce | Live Science | 
[W]hat if human extinction was less a cinematic scenario, and instead, a looming reality? That might seem like a sensational ...
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