Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Trackers may tip a warbler’s odds of returning to its nest
Geolocator devices that help track migrating birds could also hamper migration survival or timing.
- Neuroscience
Internal compass guides fruit fly navigation
Experiments show how flies navigate — and why this might be important for humans.
- Environment
Peace and quiet is becoming more elusive in U.S. wild areas
Human noise stretches into the wilderness.
- Animals
Sea creatures’ sticky ‘mucus houses’ catch ocean carbon really fast
A new deepwater laser tool measures the carbon-filtering power of snot nets created by little-known sea animals called giant larvaceans.
- Animals
50 years ago, U.S. fell short on mosquito eradication
Researchers boldly predicted mosquitoes’ demise 50 years ago. They never came close.
- Neuroscience
A baby’s pain registers in the brain
EEG recordings can help indicate whether a newborn baby is in pain, a preliminary study suggests.
- Animals
Big dads carry weight among wandering albatrosses
For male albatrosses, bulking up impacts survival and reproduction.
- Health & Medicine
Readers concerned about cancer’s sugary disguise
Tricky cancer cells, brain-shaping smartphones, a cow-burying badger and more in reader feedback.
- Climate
Lakes worldwide feel the heat from climate change
Lakes worldwide are warming with consequences for every part of the food web, from algae, to walleye, to freshwater seals.
- Science & Society
Fox experiment is replaying domestication in fast-forward
How to Tame a Fox recounts a nearly 60-year experiment in Russia to domesticate silver foxes.
- Health & Medicine
Lungs enlist immune cells to fight infections in capillaries
Immune cells in the lungs provide a rapid counterattack to bloodstream infections, a new study in mice finds.
- Neuroscience
Nerve cell miswiring linked to depression
A gene helps nerve cell axons extend to parts of the brain to deliver serotonin, a brain chemical associated with depression.
