Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
How bears engineer Japanese forests
In Japanese forests, black bears climb trees, breaking limbs. Those gaps in the forest provide light to fruiting plants, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
The five basic tastes have sixth sibling: oleogustus
Scientists dub the taste of fat oleogustus.
- Animals
Where salamanders should be very afraid
Three zones of North America at high risk if the salamander-killing fungus disease Bsal invades.
- Animals
Caterpillar treats and tricks ants by oozing spiked juice
Caterpillars ooze droplets that lure ants away from colony duties to instead lick and defend their drug source, new lab tests suggest.
- Genetics
Wolves in jackals’ clothing
Africa’s golden jackals are really a species of wolf and deserve a name change, DNA evidence indicates.
- Neuroscience
New view of mouse brain provides up-close look at nerve cells’ habitat
Detailed reconstruction of a tiny fleck of mouse brain reveals neural complexity.
- Life
Experimental MERS vaccine battles virus in mice and monkeys
Select viral proteins and DNA can combat the MERS virus in mice and monkeys.
- Life
Encountering an unexpected Pluto and life’s complexity
Just as genetic analyses are revealing details of life’s long history, the New Horizons probe is bringing the fuzzy surface of Pluto into focus.
- Neuroscience
Global warming unpaused, how space affects the brain and more reader feedback
A reader shares a story about Stephen Jay Gould, while others discuss how to protect the brain from radiation in space and whether 2014 was the hottest year on record.
- Life
The tree of life gets a makeover
Biology’s tree of life has morphed from the familiar classroom version emphasizing kingdoms into a complex depiction of supergroups, in which animals are aligned with a slew of single-celled cousins.
- Health & Medicine
Resveratrol’s anticancer benefits show up in low doses
Small amounts of the compound found in red wine and grapes prove protective against colon cancer in mice fed a high-fat diet.
- Neuroscience
Brain activity in unconscious patients offers new views of awareness
As more people survive serious brain injury, researchers are using EEG and fMRI to learn who is aware inside an unresponsive body.
