Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era
Microscopic structures that scatter light to give color to the wings of modern butterflies and moths date back almost 200 million years.
- Microbes
This material uses energy from ambient light to kill hospital superbugs
A quantum dot–powered material could help reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections, including those with drug-resistant bacteria.
- Anthropology
Finger fossil puts people in Arabia at least 86,000 years ago
A desert discovery suggests that Arabia was an ancient human destination.
- Life
Fossils sparked Charles Darwin’s imagination
Darwin’s Fossils recounts how finding extinct species in South America helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.
- Animals
In a colony, king penguins behave like molecules in a 2-D liquid
Positions of king penguins in a breeding colony resemble molecules in a 2-D liquid.
- Neuroscience
Human brains make new nerve cells — and lots of them — well into old age
In humans, new neurons are still born in old brains, new research suggests.
- Paleontology
This ancient lizard may have watched the world through four eyes
A lizard that lived 50 million years ago had both a third and a fourth eye.
- Paleontology
Readers debate dinosaur designation and more
Readers had questions about the dino family tree and Venus' habitability.
- Animals
Flying insects tell tales of long-distance migrations
Researchers are asking big questions about animal movements and pest control by tracking tiny insects in flight.
- Genetics
Birds get their internal compass from this newly ID’d eye protein
Birds can sense magnetic fields, thanks to internal compasses that likely rely on changes to proteins in the retina.
- Anthropology
Ardi walked the walk 4.4 million years ago
Ancient hominid evolved upright stance without sacrificing climbing ability.
- Animals
How honeybees’ royal jelly might be baby glue, too
A last-minute pH shift thickens royal jelly enough to stick queen larvae to the ceiling of hive cells.
