Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Science & Society
FDA OKs first GM mosquito trial in U.S. but hurdles remain
The FDA has concluded that test releases of Oxitec GM mosquitoes on a Florida key poses no significant problem for the environment, but local officials still have to agree
- Paleontology
New fossil suggests echolocation evolved early in whales
A 27-million-year-old whale fossil sheds light on echolocation’s beginnings.
- Genetics
Rats offer clues to biology of alcoholism
Heavy-drinking rats are giving scientists new genetic clues to alcoholism.
- Plants
Internal clock helps young sunflowers follow the sun
A circadian clock helps sunflowers follow the sun’s daily path across the sky
- Neuroscience
Red blood cells sense low oxygen in the brain
Red blood cells sense low oxygen and speed to the scene, a new study suggests.
- Animals
Smart mice have better odds of survival
African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) may survive summer droughts by their wits, a study suggests.
- Animals
Bird-friendly yards have a major downside — for birds
Vegetation and feeders bring birds into our yards. But those lures also bring more birds to collide with the windows in our homes.
- Animals
Diversity of indoor insects, spiders adds to life’s luxuries in high-income neighborhoods
A massive survey of indoor spiders and insects in town finds dozens of different scientific families in homes, more in high-income neighborhoods.
- Neuroscience
Running doesn’t make rats forgetful
Running doesn’t seem to wipe out old memories in rats, concludes a new study that contradicts earlier reports suggesting that exercise does actually help old memories fade and new memories form — in other rodents.
- Paleontology
Woolly mammoths’ last request: Got water?
Woolly mammoths survived on an Alaskan island thousands of years after mainland mammoths went extinct. But they died out when their lakes dried up, thanks to a warming climate and rising sea levels.
- Animals
Pup kidnapping has a happy ending when a seal gets two moms
A female fur seal kidnapped another seal’s pup. But this turned out to be a positive the young seal, scientists found.
- Neuroscience
Gift-giving brain cells are lifeline to injured nerve cells
After an injury, astrocytes give nerve cells a gift of mitochondria, mouse study suggests.
