Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
A wolf raided a crab trap. Was it tool use or just canine cunning?
Video from the Haíɫzaqv Nation Indigenous community shows a wolf hauling a crab trap ashore. Scientists are split on whether it counts as tool use.
- Animals
This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
- Animals
40,000-year-old woolly mammoth RNA offers a peek into its last moments
Ancient RNA from Yuka, a 40,000-year-old woolly mammoth preserved in permafrost, can offer new biological insights into the Ice Age animal’s life.
- Oceans
Deep-sea mining might feed plankton a diet of junk food
An analysis of mining plumes in the Pacific Ocean reveals they kick up particles sized similarly to the more nutritious tidbits that plankton eat.
- Animals
AI eavesdropped on whale chatter. It may have helped find something new
Some “clicks” made by sperm whales may actually be “clacks,” but marine biologists debate what, if anything, that means.
- Animals
This fly’s flesh-eating maggot is making a comeback. Here’s what to know
After a decades-long hiatus, new world screwworm populations have surged in Central America and Mexico — and are inching northward.
- Neuroscience
To decode future anxiety and depression, begin with a child’s brain
A child-friendly brain imaging technique is just one way neuroscientist Cat Camacho investigates how children learn to process emotions.
- Plants
A special shape shift helps a shrub thrive in blistering heat
A microscope reveals an algae-like adaptation that might future-proof crop photosynthesis in extreme heat.
- Materials Science
What causes the rainbow shimmer of ammolite gems?
Ammolite gems’ fabulous colors arise from delicate assemblies of crystal plates.
- Animals
Woodpecker hammering is a full-body affair
The birds grunt like tennis pros when generating their rat-a-tat, a performance strategy that may help stabilize core muscles.
- Animals
Mosquitoes infiltrated Iceland. Will they survive the winter?
Mosquitoes have reached Iceland, a place once thought too harsh for them to survive. Climate change may play a role in this shift.
- Chemistry
A new AI technique may aid violent crime forensics
An AI tool trained on chemical signatures from corpse-eating insects may help determine time and place of death for victims of violent crimes.
