Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Oldest human DNA narrows time of Neandertal hookups
A 45,000-year-old Siberian bone provides genetic clues about the timing of interbreeding between ancient humans and Neandertals.
- Paleontology
Mystery fossils belonged to giant ostrichlike dinosaur
Two recently found skeletons reveal that Deinocheirus, first discovered 50 years ago, was the largest-known dinosaur of its kind.
- Environment
Engineered plants demolish toxic waste
With help from bacteria, plants could one day clean up polluted sites.
- Humans
Anglo-Saxons left language, but maybe not genes to modern Britons
Modern Britons may be more closely related to Britain’s indigenous people than they are to the Anglo-Saxons, a new genetic analysis finds.
- Genetics
Camels’ number of humps may affect their fat storage
The number of humps camels and alpacas have may play a role in how well they store and break down fat.
- Genetics
Gene variant helps dog evade muscular dystrophy
A dog that has a mutation causing muscular dystrophy has another genetic variant that appears to counteract the disease.
- Animals
Camouflaged fish found hiding in plain sight
Rockpool gobies change color depending on their background.
- Health & Medicine
Feedback
Readers discuss methods to prevent sepsis and whether genes are thrifty, while Tina Saey clears up some confusion regarding Ebola's airborne status.
- Microbes
Microbes can redeem themselves to fight disease
With some genetic engineering, bacteria can morph from bad to good and help attack invading cancer cells.
- Animals
Hearing awful or great singing changes birds’ choice
A male bird’s serenade inspires reactions that depend on the quality of songs a female has been listening to.
- Health & Medicine
Jet lag affects gut microbes
Jet-lagged bacteria in the gut impair mice’s metabolism, causing obesity and diabetes-related problems.
- Animals
French flamingos froze to death without freezing
Cold snaps in 1985 and 2012 starved flamingos by the thousands in southern France.
