Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Life

  1. Plants

    Moss spores survived in space for 9 months

    The moss species Physcomitrium patens is the latest organism to survive an extended stay in the vacuum and radiation of space.

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  2. Animals

    A wolf raided a crab trap. Was it tool use or just canine cunning?

    Video from the Haíɫzaqv Nation Indigenous community shows a wolf hauling a crab trap ashore. Scientists are split on whether it counts as tool use.

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  3. Animals

    This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide

    Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.

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  4. Animals

    40,000-year-old woolly mammoth RNA offers a peek into its last moments

    Ancient RNA from Yuka, a 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth preserved in permafrost, can offer new biological insights into the Ice Age animal’s life.

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  5. Oceans

    Deep-sea mining might feed plankton a diet of junk food

    An analysis of mining plumes in the Pacific Ocean reveals they kick up particles sized similarly to the more nutritious tidbits that plankton eat.

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  6. Animals

    AI eavesdropped on whale chatter. It may have helped find something new

    Some “clicks” made by sperm whales may actually be “clacks,” but marine biologists debate what, if anything, that means.

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  7. Animals

    This fly’s flesh-eating maggot is making a comeback. Here’s what to know 

    After a decades-long hiatus, new world screwworm populations have surged in Central America and Mexico — and are inching northward.

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  8. Neuroscience

    To decode future anxiety and depression, begin with a child’s brain

    A child-friendly brain imaging technique is just one way neuroscientist Cat Camacho investigates how children learn to process emotions.

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  9. Plants

    A special shape shift helps a shrub thrive in blistering heat

    A microscope reveals an algae-like adaptation that might future-proof crop photosynthesis in extreme heat.

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