Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
A new tool could one day improve Lyme disease diagnosis
There soon could be a way to differentiate between Lyme disease and a similar tick-associated illness.
- Animals
Giant larvaceans could be ferrying ocean plastic to the seafloor
Giant larvaceans could mistakenly capture microplastics, in addition to food, in their mucus houses and transfer them to the seafloor in their feces.
- Animals
These spiders crossed an ocean to get to Australia
The nearest relatives of an Australian trapdoor spider live in Africa. They crossed the Indian Ocean to get to Australia, a new study suggests.
- Life
Polluted water: It’s where sea snakes wear black
Reptile counterpart proposed for textbook example of evolution favoring darker moths amid industrial soot.
- Astronomy
What do plants and animals do during an eclipse?
A citizen science experiment will gather the biggest dataset to date of animal responses to a total eclipse.
- Animals
Why midsize animals are the fastest
New analysis delves into the mystery of why medium-sized animals are speedier than bigger ones.
- Genetics
The first look at how archaea package their DNA reveals they’re a lot like us
Archaea microbes spool their DNA much like plants and animals do.
- Genetics
Gene editing creates virus-free piglets
Pigs engineered to lack infectious viruses may one day produce transplant organs.
- Anthropology
Infant ape’s tiny skull could have a big impact on ape evolution
Fossil comes from a lineage that had ties to the ancestor of modern apes and humans, researchers argue.
- Animals
A lot of life on planet Earth is awful and incredible
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses how the natural world feeds our sense of wonder.
- Animals
Readers fascinated by critters’ strange biology
Readers responded to fish lips, monkey brains, sunless tanner and more.
- Animals
Ticks are here to stay. But scientists are finding ways to outsmart them
Researchers acknowledge that there’s no getting rid of ticks, so they are developing ways to make them less dangerous.
