Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
How an octopus’s cleverness may have evolved
Scientists have sequenced the octopus genome, revealing molecular similarities to mammals.
- Science & Society
Monster fish, forensics and space exploration on display
Exhibits and opera infuse science into their experience.
- Neuroscience
Hints of how the brain “sees” dreams emerge
Nerve cells that make sense of visual input keep chugging away during REM sleep, suggesting that these cells may help a sleeper “see” dreams.
- Neuroscience
Hints of how the brain “sees” dreams emerge
Nerve cells that make sense of visual input keep chugging away during REM sleep, suggesting that these cells may help a sleeper “see” dreams.
- Health & Medicine
Fish oil may counter schizophrenia
Three months of omega-3 fatty acids protects against psychosis for years, a small study suggests.
- Neuroscience
Rethinking which cells are the conductors of learning and memory
Brain cells called glia may be center stage when it comes to learning and memory, recent research suggests.
- Animals
Biologists aflutter over just where monarchs are declining
Citizen science data fuel debate over whether weed control ruined monarch habitat and whether the butterflies are failing to reach their Mexican winter refuge.
- Animals
Simple change to fishing nets could save endangered whales’ lives
Making industrial fishing ropes weaker would reduce humpback and right whale bycatch by almost three-quarters
- Neuroscience
A voyage into Parkinson’s disease, led by patient and journalist
Jon Palfreman’s Brain Storms explores Parkinson’s disease in the past, present and future.
- Animals
Boa suffocation is merely myth
Boa constrictors don’t suffocate prey; they block blood flow, says a new study that shatters a common myth about the snakes.
- Animals
Power of pupils is in their shape
Horizontally or vertically stretched pupils may provide predators and prey with visual advantages.
- Neuroscience
Brain scans hint at reasons for stress-eating
Moderate stress changes brain behavior in ways that may lead to poor food choices.
