Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
If you want to believe your home’s bug free, don’t read this book
‘Never Home Alone’ reveals the hidden world living in human-made spaces.
- Archaeology
Ancient South Americans tasted chocolate 1,500 years before anyone else
Artifacts with traces of cacao push back the known date for when the plant was first domesticated by 1,500 years.
- Chemistry
Zapping substances with electrons can quickly map chemical structures
Speedy molecular identification originally developed for proteins might benefit crime lab researchers and drugmakers.
- Animals
While eating, these tiny worms release chemicals to lure their next meal
As they eat insects, one nematode species releases chemicals that attract more insect prey.
- Animals
Coral larvae survive being frozen and thawed for the first time
Cryopreservation might help save some coral reefs at risk from climate change and other dangers.
- Paleontology
The first vertebrates on Earth arose in shallow coastal waters
After appearing about 480 million years ago in coastal waters, the earliest vertebrates stayed in the shallows for another 100 million years.
- Life
To get a deeper tan, don’t sunbathe every day
Skin cells make protective melanin on a 48-hour cycle.
- Animals
How a snake named Hannibal led to a discovery about cobra cannibalism
Scientists discovered that cobras in southern Africa eat each other more often than thought. And that may be true for cobras in other places as well.
- Plants
Liverwort plants contain a painkiller similar to the one in marijuana
Cannabinoids found in liverwort plants could spell relief for those suffering from chronic pain.
- Life
Why some people may be more susceptible to deadly C. difficile infections
Proline, a type of amino acid, increases when gut microbe mixes are disturbed, giving this pathogen a ready food source.
- Neuroscience
Messing with fruit flies’ gut bacteria turns them into speed walkers
Without the right gut microbes, fruit flies walk faster and take shorter rests, results that highlight a new connection between the gut and brain.
- Agriculture
Plants engineered to always be on alert don’t grow well
Scientists bred a type of weed to lack proteins that help stem the production of bitter chemicals used to ward off insect attacks.
