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Watching someone itch can trigger the same impulse in others

Mind

Why itching can be contagious: Reflex pathway is identified in mice

Contagious itching may have evolved as a survival mechanism, such as by alerting other animals in the group that a parasite could be circulating

News

Fewer than expected boys were born in England and Wales three months after lockdown was introduced

Health

Fewer boys born in England and Wales in early stage of the pandemic

News

A series of hominoid crania (counterclockwise from the L): juvenile Australopithecus, adult Australopithecus, adult chimpanzee, juvenile chimpanzee, adult Homo erectus (center). Specimens photographed at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Humans

Our ancestors’ prenatal growth sped up after we split from chimps

News

Geneticist Svante Pääbo has been awarded a Nobel prize for his work on evolutionary genetics

Health

Nobel prize awarded for study of human evolution using ancient DNA

News

TR6FYA bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae, Calypte helenae), male on a branch, Cuba, Zapata National Park

Life

These male hummingbirds evolved to be tiny so they can do cool dives

News

Woman is standing on bathroom scales with happy smiling face on display, over colored background, top view of feet. Weight measurement and control. Concept of healthy lifestyle, dieting and fitness

Health

Weight loss advice isn't based on good evidence

Comment

^BHormone replacement therapy.^b Close-up of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) pills in a circular dispenser. HRT pills are synthetic hormones used to treat menopausal women. They counteract the hormone deficiency that occurs at menopause. These pills contain oestrogen, and often progestogen, drugs. HRT helps to prevent ^Iosteoporosis,^i ^Iatherosclerosis^i and ^Iatrophic vaginitis^i (where the vagina becomes thin and dry). Pills are taken daily on a monthly basis to coincide with the menstrual cycle. Adverse effects include nausea, tenderness of the breasts, fluid retention and leg cramps.

Health

Outdated research on HRT is letting people down

Leader

Pantolambda

Life

Early mammals lived faster and died younger than modern ones

News

Cup fungus (Dasyscyphella nivea) covered in water droplets, beside Zygote fungi (Zygomycota), close up. Hertfordshire, England, UK. November. Focus stacked image.

Life

Fungi evolved their weird and wild shapes in two big bursts

News

A large, black Newfoundland dog with drool dripping from its half open mouth

Life

Mucus has evolved at least 15 times in mammals

Mucus-producing mucin proteins have repeatedly and independently emerged in mammals, possibly through co-option of existing proteins into slime factories

News

Humans

Scientific illustrations illuminate work by Galileo, Einstein and more

Regulars

Humans

Human ancestors may have walked on two legs 7 million years ago

News

Humans

Chewing can increase your body's energy use by up to 15 per cent

News

Life

Sac with a mouth and no anus wasn't our earliest ancestor after all

News