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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

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  1. Plants

    How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals

    By tweaking just three genes in a common lab plant, scientists have discovered the mechanism responsible for one of nature’s most impressive fractals.

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  2. Climate

    Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring

    As scientists dissect what pushed temperatures up to 5 degrees Celsius above previous records, they may have to revamp how to predict heat waves.

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  3. Agriculture

    A tweaked yeast can make ethanol from cornstalks and a harvest’s other leftovers

    By genetically modifying baker’s yeast, scientists figured out how to get almost as much ethanol from cornstalks as kernels.

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  4. Earth

    A WWII submarine-hunting device helped prove the theory of plate tectonics

    With a boost from World War II, the fluxgate magnetometer became a portable and invaluable tool.

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  5. Animals

    Focusing on Asian giant hornets distorts the view of invasive species

    2021’s first “murder hornet” is yet another arrival. This is the not-so-new normal.

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  6. Earth

    Invisible bursts of electricity from volcanoes signal explosive eruptions

    Mysterious “vent discharges” could help warn of impending explosions, a study of Japan’s Sakurajima volcano shows.

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  7. Paleontology

    Fossilized dung from a dinosaur ancestor yields a new beetle species

    Whole beetles preserved in fossilized poo suggest that ancient droppings may deserve a closer look.

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  8. Climate

    3 things to know about the record-smashing heat wave baking the Pacific Northwest

    Road-buckling, cable-melting, life-threatening heat waves in the Pacific Northwest may become more common as global temperatures rise.

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  9. Animals

    ‘Fathom’ seeks to unravel humpback whales’ soulful songs

    The film ‘Fathom’ on Apple TV+ follows the quest of researchers on the ocean’s surface to decipher the eerie symphony of humpback whale calls below.

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  10. Earth

    A satellite’s view of a deadly 2019 eruption could improve volcano monitoring

    Monitoring volcanoes from space could enhance scientists’ understanding of, and ability to predict, even small eruptions.

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  11. Climate

    Collapse may not always be inevitable for marine ice cliffs

    Runaway collapse of ice cliffs could dramatically boost sea level. But these cliffs may not be so vulnerable, new simulations suggest.

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  12. Earth

    A new book uses stories from tsunami survivors to decode deadly waves

    In ‘Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves,’ two scientists chronical hundreds of eyewitness accounts to show the human cost of life at the water’s edge.

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