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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Artificial Intelligence

    How do babies learn words? An AI experiment may hold clues

    Using relatively little data, audio and video taken from a baby’s perspective, an AI program learned the names of objects the baby encountered.

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  2. Neuroscience

    A new device let a man sense temperature with his prosthetic hand

    A device that can be integrated into prosthetic hands capitalizes on phantom sensations to enable users to sense hot and cold.

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  3. Animals

    Here’s how many shark bites there were in 2023

    The chance of being bitten by a shark is still incredibly slim, according to a new report from the Florida Museum of Natural History.

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  4. Animals

    The first known scorpion to live with ants carries mini hitchhikers

    Small arachnids hitch a ride on the scorpion, possibly to get inside food-rich ant nests.

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  5. Plants

    Here’s why blueberries are blue

    Nanostructures in a blueberry’s waxy coating make it look blue, despite having dark red pigments — and no blue ones — in its skin, a new study reports.

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  6. Plants

    This weird fern is the first known plant that turns its dead leaves into new roots

    Cyathea rojasiana tree ferns seem to thrive in Panama’s Quebrada Chorro forest by turning dead leaves into roots that seek out nutrient-rich soil.

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  7. Paleontology

    A rare 3-D tree fossil may be the earliest glimpse at a forest understory

    The 350-million-year-old tree, which was wider than it was tall thanks to a mop-top crown of 3-meter-long leaves, would look at home in a Dr. Seuss book.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Bacteria that can make humans sick could survive on Mars

    Experiments suggest that common illness-causing microbes could not only survive on the Red Planet but also might be able to thrive.

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  9. Paleontology

    50 years ago, trilobite eyes mesmerized scientists

    Decades of research has confirmed that for such simple creatures, trilobites had astoundingly complex eyes.

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  10. Animals

    Explore the expected life spans of different dog breeds

    An analysis of dogs in the United Kingdom found that breeds like miniature dachshunds have the longest life spans while bulldogs have the shortest.

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  11. Microbes

    Bird flu viruses may pack tools that help them infect human cells

    Bringing along their own ANP32 proteins may give avian flu viruses a jump-start on copying themselves to adapt to and infect humans and other animals.

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  12. Animals

    Parrots can move along thin branches using ‘beakiation’

    The movement involves swinging along the underside of branches with their beaks and feet, similar to how primates swing between trees.

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