Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Brain discoveries open doors to new treatments
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses the history of neuroscience and new techniques scientists are using to influence the brain.
- Neuroscience
Brain scans decode an elusive signature of consciousness
Newly described patterns of brain activity may help reveal the level of awareness in people with brain injuries.
- Genetics
DNA reveals early mating between Asian herders and European farmers
A new genetic analysis could upend assumptions about the origins of Indo-European languages.
- Health & Medicine
In some cases, getting dengue may protect against Zika
A Zika outbreak in a Brazilian slum suggests that the timing of dengue infections may matter for protection against Zika.
- Life
Evolutionarily, grandmas are good for grandkids — up to a point
Women may live past their reproductive years because they help their grandchildren survive, but there are limits to that benefit.
- Plants
Shutdown aside, Joshua trees live an odd life
Growing only in the U.S. Southwest, wild Joshua trees evolved a rare, fussy pollination scheme.
- Genetics
What FamilyTreeDNA sharing genetic data with police means for you
Law enforcement can now use one company’s private DNA database to investigate rapes and murders.
- Animals
How black soldier fly larvae can demolish a pizza so fast
When gorging together, fly larvae create a living fountain that whooshes slowpokes up and away.
- Genetics
DNA from extinct red wolves lives on in some mysterious Texas coyotes
Mystery canids on Texas’ Galveston Island carry red wolf DNA, thought to be extinct in the wild for 40 years.
- Genetics
This bacteria-fighting protein also induces sleep
A bacteria-fighting protein also lulls fruit flies to sleep, suggesting links between sleep and the immune system.
- Animals
Giant pandas may have only recently switched to eating mostly bamboo
Giant pandas may have switched to an exclusive bamboo diet some 5,000 years ago, not 2 million years ago as previously thought.
- Neuroscience
No, we don’t know that gum disease causes Alzheimer’s
A recent study linked gum disease and Alzheimer’s disease, but the results are far from conclusive.
