Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Microbes
Microbial matter comes out of the dark
Undiscovered bacteria challenge what scientists know about microbial life.
- Life
California’s goby is actually two different fish
One fish, two fish: California’s tidewater goby is two species.
- Animals
Dwarf lemurs don’t agree on sleep
Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs’ surprising hibernation-sleep doesn’t show up in ground-hibernating relatives.
- Animals
Bonobos adept at nut cracking
Bonobos demonstrate their overlooked nut-cracking skills in an African sanctuary.
- Animals
Bonobos rival chimps at the art of cracking oil palm nuts
Bonobos demonstrate their overlooked nut-cracking skills in an African sanctuary.
- Health & Medicine
Bacterial weaponry that causes stillbirth revealed
Vaginal bacteria may cause stillbirth by deploying tiny weapons
- Animals
In drought, zebra finches wring water from their own fat
A zebra finch with no water or food can keep itself hydrated by metabolizing body fat.
- Paleontology
Greenland may be home to Earth’s oldest fossils
Dating to 3.7 billion years ago, mounds of sediment called stromatolites found in Greenland may be the oldest fossilized evidence of life on Earth.
- Neuroscience
New Alzheimer’s drug shows promise in small trial
A much-anticipated Alzheimer’s drug shows promise in a new trial, but experts temper hope with caution.
- Animals
Tail vibrations may have preceded evolution of rattlesnake rattle
The rattle on a rattlesnake evolved just once. A new study contends it may have come out of a common behavior — tail vibration — that snakes use to deter predators.
- Animals
For snowy owls, wintering on the prairie might be normal
Some snowy owls leave the Arctic for winter. That’s not a desperate move, new study says.
- Humans
Brain’s blood appetite grew faster than its size
Over evolutionary time, the energy demands of hominid brains increased faster than their volume, a new study finds.
