Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
Dolly the Sheep’s cloned sisters aging gracefully
Cloning doesn’t cause premature aging in sheep.
- Animals
To prevent cannibalism, bring chocolate
If a date goes bad for a nursery web spider, a romantic gift can serve as a shield.
- Earth
Ancient air bubbles could revise history of Earth’s oxygen
Pockets of ancient air trapped in rock salt for around 815 million years suggest that oxygen was abundant well before the first animals appear in the fossil record.
- Animals
New books deliver double dose of venomous animal facts
In Venomous and The Sting of the Wild, researchers delve into the world of venomous creatures and the scientists who study them.
- Earth
How dinosaurs hopped across an ocean
Land bridges may have once allowed dinosaurs and other animals to travel between North America and Europe around 150 million years ago, a researcher proposes.
- Life
Yeasts hide in many lichen partnerships
Yeasts newly discovered in common lichens challenge more than a century of thinking about what defines the lichen symbiosis.
- Animals
Getting rid of snails is effective at stopping snail fever
For the tropical disease snail fever, managing host populations is more effective than drugs.
- Genetics
Evolution of gut bacteria tracks splits in primate species
Primates and microbes have been splitting in sync for at least 10 million years.
- Anthropology
Humans, birds communicate to collaborate
Bird species takes hunter-gatherers to honeybees’ nests when called on.
- Neuroscience
Antibiotics might fight Alzheimer’s plaques
A new study found that antibiotics hit Alzheimer’s plaques in the brains of mice.
- Animals
To douse hot hives, honeybee colonies launch water squadrons
The whole superorganism of a honeybee colony has sophisticated ways of cooling down.
- Animals
Some primates prefer nectar with a bigger alcohol kick
Aye-ayes and slow lorises may be able to discern the alcohol content of boozy nectar and go for more potent drinks.
