Animals
Sea cucumbers harbor ‘zombie’ tissues that won’t die
Detached tissues from the sea cucumber's tube feet and feeding tentacles survived for more than three years, a find that could shape the study of aging.
Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
More Stories in Life
- Science & Society
How real is the Cyclops in The Odyssey?
The iconic one-eyed monster coming to movie screens in July in The Odyssey might have more in common with tiny water critters than with humans.
- Plants
Chinese money plant leaves hide a mathematical pattern
Tiny water-secreting pores appear to organize the major veins of the plant leaves into an arrangement known as a Voronoi diagram.
- Health & Medicine
A blood test for dementia may tell you if you have more than one type
AI helped researchers develop an experimental blood test that might let doctors diagnose overlapping dementias.
- Animals
Songs prep the brains of finches yet to hatch for a hot world
Adult finches make "heat calls" as the temperature rises. Exposure to the song prepares their unhatched young's brains for the heat.
- Health & Medicine
Measles has no treatments. Changing that may not be easy
Vaccination remains the priority, but some researchers are looking for drugs to fight the virus in people who don't get the shot.
- Earth
Earth’s stratosphere is a mysterious superhighway for microbes
Well-known microbes that grow on our crops, our gardens, even our skin have been found thriving at two to three times the flying height of a commercial jetliner.
- Health & Medicine
Engineered hookworms could one day dispense drugs from inside your gut
In a first, researchers genetically modified hookworms. It’s a step toward turning the parasites into living pharmacies.
- Paleontology
Frozen squirrel poop hints at sights and smells of Ice Age ecosystems
DNA preserved in ancient scat reveals what Yukon ground squirrels ate and what animals shared their world.
- Animals
These birds clack their wing bones together to woo mates at night
During courtship, male scissor-tailed nightjars crack their wings together to make a sharp snapping sound. It's the result of colliding arm bones.
