Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
In ‘The Perfect Predator,’ viruses vanquish a deadly superbug
In ‘The Perfect Predator,’ an epidemiologist recounts the battle to save her husband from an antibiotic-resistant infection.
- Animals
Watch a desert kangaroo rat drop-kick a rattlesnake
Desert kangaroo rats have a wide arsenal for dodging rattlesnake ambushes. But the most dramatic might be their powerful midair kick.
- Animals
Chytrid’s frog-killing toll has been tallied — and it’s bad
Losses due to the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus are “the greatest documented loss of biodiversity attributable to a pathogen,” researchers find.
- Animals
Geneticists close in on how mosquitoes sniff out human sweat
A long-sought protein proves vital for mosquitoes’ ability to detect lactic acid, a great clue for finding a human.
- Science & Society
The science of CBD lags behind its marketing
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses the lack of scientific research on CBD.
- Science & Society
The CBD boom is way ahead of the science
As CBD-laced foods and health products gain popularity, researchers are just beginning to fill the gaping holes in knowledge about this cannabis molecule’s benefits.
- Health & Medicine
Epileptic seizures may scramble memories during sleep
Overnight seizures seemed to muddle memories in people with epilepsy.
- Health & Medicine
A single sweaty workout may boost some people’s memory
Memory improvements after a short bout of exercise mirrored those seen after months of training.
- Health & Medicine
Signs of new nerve cells spotted in adult brains
A study finds new evidence that adult brains grow new nerve cells, even the brain of an octogenarian.
- Paleontology
Saber-toothed cats were fierce and family-oriented
New details shift the debate on whether Smilodon lived and hunted in packs, and answer questions about other behaviors and abilities.
- Neuroscience
Women have a new weapon against postpartum depression, but it’s costly
The newly approved drug brexanolone simulates a natural hormone to alleviate symptoms of postpartum depression.
- Paleontology
Newfound fossils in China highlight a dizzying diversity of Cambrian life
A new treasure trove of Cambrian fossils in China dating to 518 million years ago could rival Canada’s Burgess Shale.
