Hacker News with Generative AI: Human Biology

First map of human brain mitochondria is 'groundbreaking' achievement (nature.com)
Scientists have created the first map of the crucial structures called mitochondria throughout the entire brain ― a feat that could help to unravel age-related brain disorders1.
Population stratification led to a decade of false genetic findings (theinfinitesimal.substack.com)
How population stratification led to a decade of sensationally false genetic findings
Woman who lived to age 117 had genes keeping her cells 'younger', study shows (theguardian.com)
The US-born woman who was the world’s oldest living person before she died in Spain last August at age 117 once attributed her longevity to “luck and good genetics”. And, evidently, Maria Branyas Morera was right.
Engineering of human cells reveals genome's resilience to structural changes (phys.org)
The most complex engineering of human cell lines ever has been achieved by scientists, revealing that our genomes are more resilient to significant structural changes than was previously thought.
The secret behind sharp vision: the benefits of tiny eye movements (medicalxpress.com)
Even when we think we are holding our gaze perfectly still, our eyes make tiny, involuntary movements. While these "fixational eye movements" might seem like they would blur our vision, new research reveals they actually help us see fine details more clearly.
'Obelisks', a new class of life living inside humans (bgr.com)
Researchers just discovered an entirely new class of life living inside humans
Ear muscle we thought humans didn't use activates when people listen hard (frontiersin.org)
If you can wiggle your ears, you can use muscles that helped our distant ancestors listen closely.
Men have grown twice as much as women over past century, study shows (theguardian.com)
Amid the profound changes humanity has witnessed, one might be forgiven for failing to notice a rise in sexy and formidable men: those tall, broad-shouldered types that are strangers to self-doubt.
Why some people can get away with only a little sleep every night (pbs.org)
Everyone has heard that it’s vital to get seven to nine hours of sleep a night, a recommendation repeated so often it has become gospel. Get anything less, and you are more likely to suffer from poor health in the short and long term — memory problems, metabolic issues, depression, dementia, heart disease, a weakened immune system.
Could Humans Hibernate? (aeon.co)
The conventional view is that humans and other creatures around us live between periods of waking and sleeping. But it is not true. Many have mastered the art of hibernating, which allows them to spend quite a lot of their life in a mysterious state of suspended animation – sometimes more than half of it. What is hibernation, and is it something that humans might be capable of?
What's so special about the human brain? (nature.com)
Torrents of data from cell atlases, brain organoids and other methods are finally delivering answers to an age-old question.
The mystery of why left-handers are so much rarer (2016) (bbc.com)
Relatively few people are lefties, and it’s a puzzle why. Still, the science of handedness is revealing fascinating insights about you – from how it could change the way you think, to the fact that you might be ‘left-eared’.
The human heart shows signs of ageing after just a month in space (nature.com)
Over the course of just one month in space, engineered human heart tissue got weaker, its ‘beating’ patterns became irregular and it underwent molecular and genetic changes that mimicked the effect of ageing1.
Puberty Hasn't Changed Since the Ice Age (nautil.us)
The blueprint was set at least 25,000 years ago.
Scientists find humans age dramatically in two bursts – at 44, then 60 (theguardian.com)
Evidence for ~12-h ultradian gene programs in humans (nature.com)
Human reproduction comes at the expense of faster aging and a shorter life (biorxiv.org)
Toxic Compounds in Everyday Products Are Disrupting Vital Human Proteins (scitechdaily.com)
Ask HN: Most accurate scientific book on human sleep? (ycombinator.com)
'Each person has a unique smell: this is our olfactory footprint' (elpais.com)
Humans May Be Able to Grow New Teeth Within Just 6 Years (popularmechanics.com)
How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part? (cam.ac.uk)
Microplastics found in every human testicle in study (theguardian.com)