Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Fentanyl’s death toll is rising
The ability of fentanyl, an opioid, to freeze chest muscles within minutes may be to blame for some overdoses, a new autopsy study shows.
- Animals
Hoverflies (probably) can’t sense gravity
Acrobatic insects called hoverflies may simply use visual and airflow cues and not gravity to orient their bodies midair.
- Neuroscience
Eating shuts down nerve cells that counter obesity
A group of nerve cells shut down when food hits the lips, a study of mice finds.
- Health & Medicine
Zika kills brain cells in adult mice
Zika virus may harm more than babies: The virus can infect and kill brain cells in adult mice, too.
- Archaeology
How to get Ötzi’s look
DNA from Ötzi the Iceman’s clothes and quiver traced to both domesticated and wild animals.
- Animals
Evidence piles up for popular pesticides’ link to pollinator problems
Neonicotinoid pesticides linked to population declines in California butterflies and wild bee extinctions in Great Britain.
- Earth
Americas’ hookup not so ancient after all
Debate lingers over when the Isthmus of Panama formed and closed the seaway that separated North and South America millions of years ago.
- Genetics
Genetic diversity data offers medical benefits
Study of protein-producing DNA narrows down disease-causing genetic variants.
- Health & Medicine
When it comes to antimicrobial resistance, watch out for wildlife
Focusing on antimicrobial resistance in hospitals and farms misses a big and not well understood part of the issue: wildlife.
- Animals
Lizard mom’s microbiome may protect her eggs
Striped plateau lizard moms don’t do any parenting beyond laying eggs. But they may convey protection from pathogens with help from their microbiome.
- Animals
Female fish have a fail-safe for surprise sperm attacks
A Mediterranean fish provides evidence that, even after laying their eggs, females can still influence who fertilizes them.
- Life
Genes that control toxin production in C. difficile ID’d
Pinpointing the genes behind Clostridium difficile toxin production could help researchers disarm the superbug without killing “good” bacteria.
