Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Another tiny frog species found in sky islands of Brazil
Another new species of miniature frog has been discovered amongst the leaf litter in the high cloud forests of southern Brazil.
- Microbes
Bacteria in flowers may boost honeybees’ healthy gut microbes
Honeybees may deliver doses of probiotics to the hive to help feed baby bees’ microbiome.
- Chemistry
Three kids’ science books offer fun, fascinating experiments
No matter what interests kids, there’s a do-it-yourself science book for them. Here are three with entertaining and educational options.
- Chemistry
Pathway pieced together to make opiates in yeast
Scientists have engineered yeast to make sugar into thebaine, a precursor to opiates such as morphine.
- Psychology
Baby marmosets imitate parents’ sounds
Vocal learning may work similarly in marmoset monkeys, songbirds and humans.
- Animals
A UFO would stress out a bear
Scientists need to know how animals, such as bears, react to the drones being used increasingly to study them.
- Animals
Light pollution may disrupt firefly sex
Females of a common big dipper firefly weren’t as flashy when forced to flirt in LED light pollution.
- Animals
Cougars may provide a net benefit to humans
Cougars have disappeared from the eastern United States. If they returned, they’d kill deer, preventing many car crashes, scientists find.
- Neuroscience
Shifting views of brain cells, and other fresh perspectives
The details emerging from the latest work on glial cells are sure to yield more insights as scientists continue their struggle to understand the mind.
- Astronomy
Lucy’s new neighbor, downloading New Horizon’s data and more reader feedback
Readers discuss why Pluto's data will take so long to get to Earth, the role the cerebellum plays in creative thinking and more.
- Health & Medicine
Football games come with more head hits than practices do
As football intensifies from practice to games, the number of impacts increases, a new study finds.
- Genetics
How an octopus’s cleverness may have evolved
Scientists have sequenced the octopus genome, revealing molecular similarities to mammals.
