Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
A tree in Brazil’s arid northeast rains nectar from its flowers
Northeast Brazil is home to a tree that entices bat pollinators by making a “sweet rain” of nectar.
- Neuroscience
Is taking birth control as a teen linked to depression? It’s complicated
As researchers sift through conflicting data, no clear answers emerge on whether birth control during teenage years can cause depression later.
- Health & Medicine
A dose of ketamine could lessen the lure of alcohol
Ketamine may weaken wobbly memories of drinking, a trick that might ultimately be useful for treating alcohol addiction.
- Health & Medicine
A protein helps disease-causing immune cells invade MS patients’ brains
Blocking the protein may hinder B cells invading the brain in multiple sclerosis, a study in mice and ‘stand-in’ human brain barriers finds.
- Humans
Why screening DNA for ‘designer babies’ probably won’t work
While simulations suggest it’s possible to predict a child’s height from looking at an embryo’s DNA, real-world examples say otherwise.
- Neuroscience
Some people with half a brain have extra strong neural connections
Brain scans of six people who had half their brains removed as epileptic children show signs of compensation.
- Life
Caribou migrate farther than any other known land animal
Caribou in Alaska and Canada migrate up to 1,350 kilometers round trip each year, a study reports.
- Health & Medicine
Full intestines, more than full stomachs, may tell mice to stop eating
A new description of stretch-sensing nerve endings in mice’s intestines could lead to ways to treat obesity.
- Animals
Humpback whales in the South Atlantic have recovered from near-extinction
A new count shows the population off Brazil went from about 450 in the 1950s to some 25,000 today.
- Climate
5 things to know about fighting climate change by planting trees
One group’s idea of planting vast swaths of trees to curb climate change exaggerates the proposal’s power to trap carbon, some argue.
- Animals
A tooth fossil shows Gigantopithecus’ close ties to modern orangutans
Proteins from the past help clarify how an ancient Asian ape that was larger than a full-grown, modern male gorilla evolved.
- Earth
Plastics outnumber baby fish 7-to-1 in some coastal nurseries
Ocean slicks serve as calm, food-rich nurseries for larval fish. A new study shows that slicks also accumulate plastics, which get eaten by baby fish.
