Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Dimetrodon’s diet redetermined
The reptilelike Dimetrodon dined mainly on amphibians and sharks, not big herbivores as scientists once believed.
- Animals
Bees get hooked on flowers’ caffeine buzz
Flowers drug honey bees with caffeinated nectar to trick them into returning, causing the bees to shift their foraging and dancing behaviors.
- Plants
Early cyanobacteria fossils dug up in 1965
In 1965, early photosynthetic plant fossils were discovered. The date of earliest oxygen-producing life forms has since been pushed much earlier.
- Neuroscience
Adolescent brains open to change
Adolescent brains are still changing, a malleability that renders them particularly sensitive to the outside world.
- Humans
U.S. is growing more genetically diverse
Young Americans are more genetically diverse than previous generations, a new DNA analysis reveals.
- Genetics
Microbes may reveal colon cancer mutations
Certain microbial mixes are associated with particular DNA mutations in colon cancer, a new study suggests.
- Animals
Root fungi make or break monarchs’ chances against parasite
Fungi that live amid the roots of milkweed plants change the chemicals produced in the plant’s leaves, which can either aid or hinder a monarch butterfly’s ability to fight off parasites.
- Neuroscience
That familiar feeling comes from deep in the brain
Knowing what’s new and what we’ve seen before is at the base of memory. A new study shows that with a flash of light, scientists can change the firing of brain cells, and make the old new again.
- Health & Medicine
Elephants’ cancer-protection secret may be in the genes
An extra dose of cancer-fighting genes may be the secret to elephants’ long life spans.
- Genetics
Gene editing makes pigs safer for human transplants
CRISPR/Cas9 disables multiple viruses at one time
- Animals
Ecotourism could bring new dangers to animals
The presence of kindly tourists could make animals more vulnerable to predation and poaching, a new study warns.
- Animals
Jumping conchs triumph at overheated athletics
“Simple” circulatory system outdoes fancier ones in delivering oxygen for jumping conchs in simulated climate change conditions.
