Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Plants’ ‘don’t-eat-me’ chemicals no problem for earthworms
Newly discovered gut compounds called drilodefensins allow earthworms to pack in plant debris loaded with hazardous chemicals.
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- Animals
LED lights make moths easy targets for bats
Bright LED lights may bewilder moths, making them vulnerable to predator attacks.
- Neuroscience
Astrocytes help speed up brain’s messages
Astrocytes may help speed nerve cells’ electrical messages.
- Animals
Don’t let Cecil the lion distract from the big conservation challenges
Cecil the lion’s death rocketed across the news and social media. But there are bigger conservation challenges that need attention, too.
- Genetics
How Ethiopian highlanders adapted to breathe thin air
Lower levels of a heart protein may help Ethiopian highlanders breathe thin air, researchers report.
- 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.
