Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Life

    Fossilized fish skull shakes up the evolutionary history of jaws

    Analysis of a 415-million-year-old fossilized fish skull suggest that the earliest jawed vertebrates probably looked a lot like modern bony fish.

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  2. Animals

    Mountain migration is a roller coaster for bar-headed geese

    Bar-headed geese rise and fall to match terrain below them when migrating over the Himalayas.

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  3. Life

    In battle to shape immunity, environment often beats genes

    The environment, especially microbes, shapes immune system reactions more than genes do.

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  4. Animals

    Earth’s magnetic field guides sea turtles home

    Over 19 years, geomagnetic fields changed slightly and so did loggerheads’ nesting sites.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Brain’s plumbing may knock out blood test for brain injury

    The brain's waste-removal system may complicate scientists' attempts to create a blood test to diagnose traumatic brain injury.

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  6. Neuroscience

    To beat sleepiness of anxiety drugs, team looks to body’s clock

    Studying basic functions, such as the body’s clock, has inadvertently led to a compound that relieves anxiety in mice.

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  7. Neuroscience

    Feedback

    Readers discuss volcanoes and brain studies involving chocolate, and recommend some science-based options for game night.

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  8. Plants

    Tricky pitcher plants lure ants into a false sense of security

    Carnivorous pitcher plants exploit social lives of ants as scouts escape and inadvertently lead nest mates to death trap.

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  9. Neuroscience

    Protectors of our nervous system play a role in pain

    PET and MRI brain scans show that the cells that protect our central nervous system also play a role in chronic pain.

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  10. Animals

    Squids edit genetic directions extensively

    In squids, RNA editing means that DNA often does not get the final say in which proteins are created.

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  11. Animals

    Paternity test reveals father’s role in mystery shark birth

    A shark pup was born in a tank with three female sharks but no males. A genetic study finds that the shark must have stored sperm for nearly four years.

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  12. Animals

    Amazonian bird may act the part of its hairy caterpillar disguise

    A rare view of a baby cinereous mourner feeds debate over whether the bird both looks and acts the part of a toxic hairy caterpillar as defense against predators.

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