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How smart were human-like species of the Stone Age? New research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science by a team led by paleoanthropologist April Nowell of the University of Victoria reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in a former oasis near Azraq, Jordan.

The decrease in fishery productivity in Lake Tanganyika since the 1950s is a consequence of global warming rather than just overfishing, according to a new report from an international team led by a University of Arizona geoscientist.

The lake was becoming warmer at the same time in the 1800s the abundance of fish began declining, the team found. The lake's algae - fish food - also started decreasing at that time.

However, large-scale commercial fishing did not begin on Lake Tanganyika until the 1950s.

The social costs related to lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, amount to $395 million from April 2014, when the city switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, to the present day, not counting the $58 million already spent by the state on medical care and water provisions. The analysis by Peter Muennig at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health appears as a letter in the journal Health Affairs.

Biologists have discovered high levels of pesticides and other contaminants from marine mammals in the tissues of endangered California condors living near the coast that they say could complicate recovery efforts for the largest land bird in North America.

Teenagers who regularly play online video games tend to improve their school results, according to new research from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

But school students who visit Facebook or chat sites every day are more likely to fall behind in maths, reading and science.

Associate Professor Alberto Posso, from RMIT's School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, investigated the results of testing by the globally recognised Program for International Student Assessment.

A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team has identified an additional mechanism for resistance to targeted treatment for BRAF-mutant melanoma. Their paper, receiving advance online publication in Nature Medicine, reports that inactivating mutations in two genes responsible for regulating key aspects of cell division can reactivate the signaling pathway driving tumor growth that had been blocked by BRAF inhibitor drugs.

Researchers have found evidence that a natural fruit extract is capable of dissolving calcium oxalate crystals, the most common component of human kidney stones. This finding could lead to the first advance in the treatment of calcium oxalate stones in 30 years.

Two different approaches to insurance expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were associated with increased outpatient and preventive care, reduced emergency department use, and improved self-reported health compared to nonexpansion in another state, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Beriberi in infants is a public health concern with reports in parts of Southeast Asia. Caused by thiamine (B1) deficiency, beriberi generally presents among breastfed infants at three months. A disorder characterized by vomiting, convulsions and signs of heart failure, beriberi can be fatal for an infant unless thiamine is rapidly administered. In Cambodia, beriberi can result because of maternal dietary factors, including significant consumption of polished white rice, which lacks in thiamine, and a lack of consumption of thiamine-rich foods.

• About 40 percent more people improved their health behaviors as a result of texts
• Texting increased fruit and vegetable consumption and reduced fat consumption
• About 66 million people in India have diabetes
• Simple, cost-effective solution could be used in other low and middle-income countries

The main goal of a tumour cell is, above all, to survive, even at the cost of damaging the health of the organism to which it belongs. To do this, it is equipped with skills that healthy cells do not have, including the ability to continue surviving when glucose levels are very low. This could be one of the reasons why widely-used anti-angiogenic agents often fail to eliminate cancer, no matter how much they starve it by hindering the development of the blood vessels that provide nutrients in general and glucose in particular.

Australian genomics researchers have announced the development of Sequins -- synthetic 'mirror' DNA sequences that reflect the human genome. This intuitive new technology, which can be used to better map and analyse complexity within the genome, is freely available to the academic research community.

Scientists have identified a compound that can kill the parasites responsible for three neglected diseases: Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness. These diseases affect millions of people in Latin America, Asia and Africa, but there are few effective treatments available.

DURHAM, N.C. -- In the search for new ways to attack recurrent prostate cancer, researchers at Duke Health report that a novel compound appears to have a unique way of blocking testosterone from fueling the tumors in mice.

The potential foundation for a next-generation therapy, called tetraaryl cyclobutane, or CB, is being studied as an option for prostate tumors that have grown resistant to current anti-androgen drugs, notably enzalutamide.

Ever since the prion gene was discovered in 1985, its role and biological impact on the neurons has remained a mystery. "Finally, we can ascribe a clear-cut function to prion proteins and reveal that, combined with particular receptor, they are responsible for the long-term integrity of the nerves," says Professor Adriano Aguzzi from the Neuropathological Institute at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich. The present study therefore clears up a question that researchers have been puzzling over for 30 years, but ultimately went unanswered.