Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Too many stinkbugs spoil the wine
Stinkbugs can ruin wine if enough are accidentally processed alive with the grapes. Three or fewer stinkbugs per grape cluster don’t have a noticeable effect on red wine.
- Life
Howler monkeys may owe their color vision to leaf hue
Better color vision gives howler monkeys an edge at finding food.
- Anthropology
Power may have passed via women in ancient Chaco Canyon society
DNA points to a 330-year-long reign of a maternal dynasty centered in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon.
- Anthropology
Low-status chimps revealed as trendsetters
Outranked chimpanzees trigger spread of useful new behaviors among their comrades.
- Animals
Coconut crab pinches like a lion, eats like a dumpster diver
Coconut crabs use their surprisingly powerful claw for more than cracking coconuts.
- Plants
Enzymes aid rice plants’ arsenic defenses
Rice plant roots have natural defenses against arsenic.
- Life
New imaging technique catches DNA ‘blinking’ on
Dye-free imaging technique zooms in below 10-nanometer threshold, allowing new cellular views.
- Microbes
Microbes survived inside giant cave crystals for up to 50,000 years
Microbes trapped in crystals in Mexico's Naica mine may represent some of the most distinct life-forms found in Earth so far.
- Health & Medicine
Common fungus may raise asthma risk
The presence of a fungus in the infant gut can signal development of asthma by age 5.
- Ecosystems
Seagrasses boost ecosystem health by fighting bad bacteria
Seagrasses might reduce bacteria levels in ocean water.
- Genetics
Human gene editing therapies are OK in certain cases, panel advises
A panel of experts says clinical gene editing to correct and prevent human disease should move forward, but enhancements should not be allowed.
- Paleontology
Fossil shows that ancient reptile gave live birth
A new fossil shows that a prehistoric reptile may have given birth to live young, unlike its egg-laying descendants, birds and crocodiles.
