Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Microbes
Spore-powered engines zoom ahead
Engines that run on the dehydration of bacterial spores can power a tiny car and an LED.
- Life
Twisty chains of proteins keep cells oriented
The counterclockwise twist of protein fibers jutting out from the edge of human cells allow the cells to distinguish right from left.
- Genetics
Pneumonia bacteria attacks lungs with toxic weaponry
Some strains of the bacteria that causes pneumonia splash lung cells with hydrogen peroxide to mess with DNA and kill cells, a new study suggests.
- Ecosystems
Ocean food source lives by day, dies by night
The most abundant carbon fixer in the oceans lives by day, dies by night, and may be key to the balance of marine ecosystems.
- Neuroscience
Alzheimer’s spares brain’s music regions
Brain regions involved in recognizing familiar songs are relatively unscathed in Alzheimer’s disease.
- Animals
Pigs don’t deserve the name ‘Lesser Beasts’
From ancient forests to modern farms, pigs’ relationship with humans has been symbiotic.
- Life
Aging: Nature’s way of reducing competition for resources
Aging may have developed in many species as a genetic mechanism to conserve future resources. If the controversial proposal is true, then scientists may be able to greatly extend life span by deactivating the machinery for aging embedded in our DNA.
- Animals
Could the dinos of ‘Jurassic World’ become invasive?
Even if they escaped their island home, the giant reptiles of ‘Jurassic World’ probably wouldn’t survive on the mainland. But the movie’s plants are another story.
- Genetics
A circadian clock transplant gives E. coli rhythm
Clockworks from algae built into E. coli may hold future jet lag treatment.
- Life
A protein variant can provide protection from deadly brain-wasting
If cannibalism hadn’t stopped, a protective protein may have ended kuru anyway.
- Animals
Newly discovered tiny frogs live on islands in the sky
Scientists find seven new species of frogs in southern Brazil, and more could be waiting, they say.
- Archaeology
Bronze Age humans racked up travel miles
A new study indicates long journeys and unexpected genetic links in Bronze Age Eurasian cultures.
