Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males
Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.
- Space
How realistic is Project Hail Mary?
Ryan Gosling is on a mission to save the sun — and Earth — from star-killing microbes. Science News dissects the science behind the sci-fi movie.
- Plants
Check out 6 ways orchids use tricks to reproduce
This spring, these six orchids will lure pollinators with mimicry, scent or other unusual strategies.
- Animals
Mosquitoes get the ‘I’m full’ signal from their butts, not their brains
Mosquitoes stop feeding because signals from rectal cells tell them they’re full, offering a target for preventing human bites.
- Microbes
How warming is shifting microbial worlds
Climate change is affecting microbes, and that has implications for all life on Earth.
- Animals
Sharks are ingesting drugs in the Bahamas
Nearly one third of sharks studied near the Bahamas’ Eleuthera Island were found to have caffeine, painkillers and other drugs in their bloodstreams.
- Animals
Platypus fur has a surprising feature seen only in bird feathers
Platypuses are the first mammals known to have hollow melanosomes, pigment-bearing structures found in the hair of many animals.
- Animals
Wild monkeys invaded Florida. Should people protect them?
A colony of African vervets in Dania Beach raises big questions about how humans can and should manage nonnative species.
- Neuroscience
Yaks may hint at a way to treat brain diseases like MS
A genetic mutation tied to keeping the brain healthy at high altitudes may point to a way to repair nerve damage, experiments in mice show.
- Paleontology
A large fossil leg bone hints at T. rex’s origins, but scientists disagree
A new analysis of a large fossil shinbone suggests T. rex ancestors came from North America instead of Asia. Not everyone agrees.
- Genetics
Why African striped mice can be the best of dads — or the worst
Environmental cues can flip a molecular switch in the brain, turning males from caregivers to killers.
- Space
One possible recipe for life on Titan is a bust
An experiment mimicking conditions on the Saturn moon suggests that cell-like bubbles don’t form in methane lakes, puncturing hopes for alien life.
