Bones

More than 300,000 Americans aged 65 and older are hospitalized for hip fractures each year. But researchers have found that even tiny lifestyle changes can boost bone strength to a level that greatly reduces the incidence of these serious fractures.

RNA therapies are emerging as a promising treatment for cancer. Now, scientists at Tel Aviv University have demonstrated a way to use RNA drugs to treat multiple myeloma, a hard-to-reach cancer that forms deep in bone tissue.

Anthropologists have assembled the most complete Stone Age family tree, spanning 7 generations. Genetic studies of the remains of dozens of people in a burial site in France reveal some surprising insights into family and social dynamics of the time.

Researchers have used machine learning to assess bone density scans for calcification in the aorta, the body’s main artery. They say their method could be used to predict future cardiovascular and other disease, even before symptoms appear.

Cannibalism among our ancestors is not a surprise, but scientists have been taken aback to find clues of this behavior that hail from 1.45 million years ago. Precision cuts made with a stone tool suggests there were some skilful butchers around too.

With evolution there’s always a trade-off – long necks may help you find food but they’re also a massive weak spot. Now, paleontologists have found direct fossil evidence of prehistoric, long-necked marine reptiles being decapitated by predators.

We may soon be giving our unwanted eggshells to science, thanks to new research that has used the humble chicken eggshell to create a new bioactive material for making safe, effective bone grafts.

Calcium carbonate is an impressive material, in that it combines strength, light weight and porosity. Scientists have devised a new bacteria-based method of 3D-printing the substance, for uses such as bone repair and coral reef restoration.

A common diabetes drug has been linked to a reduction in the need for joint replacement surgery. The observational study suggests the drug could be helpful for patients with osteoarthritis, although further clinical work is needed to validate the association.

While bone injuries such as fractures typically heal on their own, large sections of missing bone often never grow back, requiring bone transplants from other parts of the body. A new hydrogel, however, could help change that.

Repeated knocks to the head are known to carry increased risks to our neurological health, but a new study has sought to fill in important details around what they might mean for the skull, finding they lead to robust increases in bone thickness.

The dinosaur king may yet retain its crown. Earlier this year a study proposed that the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex should be split into three distinct species, but a new analysis says there isn’t enough evidence for such a drastic shake-up.