Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Finches can pass H7N9 bird flu to chickens
In laboratory experiments, society finches spread H7N9 into water when they drank, infecting chickens and quail that drank the same water.
- Genetics
The upside of a demolished chromosome
A woman’s rare genetic disease was cured when a chromosome carrying the mutant gene shattered.
- Animals
Snail shell creates blue iridescence with mineral
Mollusk shines blue using calcium compound rather than organic molecule.
- Life
Cyborg beetles reveal secrets of insect flight
Remote controlled beetles swoop to the rescue in insect flight simulations.
- Paleontology
Rise of East African Plateau dated by whale fossil
A whale fossil is helping to pinpoint when the East African Plateau started to rise and how the uplift played a role in human evolution, scientists say.
- Animals
Getting stabbed is no fun for land snails
When hermaphroditic land snails mate, they stab each other with “love darts.” But being darted comes at a price, a new study finds.
- Animals
Nanocrystals explain chameleons’ color shifts
Tiny crystals embedded in chameleons’ skin reflect specific wavelengths of light based on their position, explaining how chameleons change colors.
- Animals
A brain chemical tells when to fight or flee
Crickets tally the knocks they take in a fight, and flee when their brains release nitric oxide to tell them they’ve had enough.
- Life
For healthy eating, timing matters
Limiting eating times improves heart function in fruit flies.
- Neuroscience
Sniffing out human pheromones
A new review argues that most of the chemicals labeled human pheromones, and the experiments behind them, don’t pass the smell test.
- Neuroscience
Ultrasound attacks Alzheimer’s plaques
A new study offers clues to how ultrasound may work as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
- Paleontology
How arthropods got their legs
New fossils reveal how arthropods evolved branching limbs.
