The remains of two Ice Age infants are the youngest human remains ever found in northern North America, according to a new paper.

The remains of the infants date to around 11,000 years ago and were found in 2013 at an excavation of the Upward Sun River site, near the Tanana River in central Alaska.  

Named after the location of first documented outbreak (Norwalk Ohio in 1968) norovirus, aka the "Stomach Flu," "Winter Vomiting Bug," or the "Cruise Ship Virus" is an evil little demon that spares no one. There are few, if any of us, who haven't experienced its misery; it infects 21 million people annually in the US every year—second only to the common cold. It is the leading cause (up to 80 percent) of gastroenteritis in the western world.   

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning Whole Foods customers not to consume a line of organic raw almonds due to elevated levels of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid/formonitrile - chemical formula HCN). Hydrogen cyanide is a natural toxic chemical that interferes with oxygen in our organs so it can quickly be fatal, but even in smaller exposure can be damaging to the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system and the pulmonary system.

Highly-paid environmental lobbyists invoke Frankenstein's monster for everything, apparently never having read the novel. But there is some biology that is a little like Shelley's monster, massive DNA molecules stitched together from other parts of the genome  that appear in some tumors, according to a new study.

In the first decade of the the new millennium, there was a lot of hand-wringing about the cutting of science journalism jobs at mainstream news outlets. The groundswell of support was...okay, it was nonexistent, really just limited to science journalists. No one else cared.

Laundry detergent pods became popular 2010, because they are more precise than liquids or powder. Are they more dangerous than liquids or powder?

Though marijuana use has gone up sharply since 2007, claims about its lack of harm compared to cigarettes or drugs are not based on evidence. Instead, studies have shown abnormalities in brain function and structure of long-term marijuana users and that chronic marijuana users have smaller brain volume in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a part of the brain commonly associated with addiction, but also increased brain connectivity. 

But the effects of chronic marijuana use on the brain may depend on the age of first use and duration of use, according to researchers. 

The need for a moral higher power may have been as necessary for adapting to a dangerous world as physical adaptations, according to a new paper.

The authors suggest that societies with less access to food and water are more likely to believe in such deities. They believe there is a strong correlation between belief in high gods who enforce a moral code and other societal characteristics. Political complexity - namely a social hierarchy beyond the local community - and the practice of animal husbandry were both strongly associated with a belief in moralizing gods, though how raising livestock factored in is a mystery, since everyone did it.

I'll have a clean cage with a side of fertility issues. Mouse image via www.shutterstock.com

By Anne-Marie Hodge, University of Wyoming

Boston, MA - Among pregnant women infected with HIV, the use of antiretroviral (ARV) medications early in pregnancy to treat their HIV or to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV does not appear to increase the risk of birth defects in their infants, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is one of the largest studies to date to look at the safety of ARV use during pregnancy.

While the study found that overall risk was low--in keeping with previous research that has found ARV use in pregnancy to be generally safe--the researchers did find that one ARV drug, atazanavir, was associated with increased risk of birth defects and they said it should be studied further.