Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
A fake organ mimics what happens in the blink of an eye
A newly crafted artificial eye could help researchers study treatments for dry eye disease and other ailments.
- Plants
The flowers that give us chocolate are ridiculously hard to pollinate
Cacao trees are really fussy about pollination.
- Neuroscience
Babies can recover language skills after a left-side stroke
Very young babies who have strokes in the language centers of their brain can recover normal language function — in the other side of their brain.
- Tech
This stick-on patch could keep tabs on stroke patients at home
New wearable electronics that monitor swallowing and speech could aid rehabilitation therapy for stroke patients.
- Space
Americans would welcome alien life rather than fear it
Americans would probably take the discovery of extraterrestrial microbes pretty well.
- Animals
Ants practice combat triage and nurse their injured
Termite-hunting ants have their own version of combat medicine for injured nest mates.
- Neuroscience
To hear the beat, your brain may think about moving to it
To keep time to a song, the brain relies on a region used to plan movement — even when you’re not tapping along.
- Animals
Strong winds send migrating seal pups on lengthier trips
Prevailing winds can send northern fur seal pups on an epic journey.
- Paleontology
Fossil footprints may put lizards on two feet 110 million years ago
Fossilized footprints found in South Korea could be the earliest evidence of two-legged running in lizards.
- Anthropology
In Borneo, hunting emerges as a key threat to endangered orangutans
Only small numbers of Bornean orangutans will survive coming decades, researchers say.
- Climate
Look to penguins to track Antarctic changes
Scientists say carbon and nitrogen isotopes found in penguin tissues can indicate shifts in the Antarctic environment.
- Genetics
Study debunks fishy tale of how rabbits were first tamed
A popular tale about rabbit domestication turns out to be fiction.
