Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Red kangaroo’s tail acts like a fifth leg
Red kangaroos wield their tails like another limb when moving slowly.
- Paleontology
Flightless dino-bird wore full-body feathers
Recently unearthed Archaeopteryx fossil sports full coat of feathers, suggesting feather evolution was more complex than previously thought.
- Neuroscience
Autism may carry a benefit: a buffer against Alzheimer’s
Brain plasticity of people with autism may protect them from Alzheimer’s disease, scientists propose.
- Life
Tibetans live high life thanks to extinct human relatives
DNA shared by modern-day Tibetans and extinct Denisovans suggests people picked up helpful genes through interbreeding with other hominids.
- Life
Stem cell papers retracted
Researchers who reported easy method for making stem cells admit mistakes mar their work, and have retracted their papers from Nature.
- Genetics
Finally, some solid science on Bigfoot
DNA analysis finds no Bigfoot, no yeti, two weird bears and one scientist on a quest for the truth.
- Ecosystems
Invasive insect tied to shrinking river
A river in North Carolina shrank after a hemlock woolly adelgid eradicated eastern hemlock trees in the region.
- Life
Near reefs, microbial mix dictated by coral and algae
A reef’s dominant organism, coral or algae, may determine what kind of bacteria live there.
- Neuroscience
A mutated bacterial enzyme gobbles up cocaine
Cocaine is highly addictive, and those attempting to quit often relapse. Modifications to an enzyme that breaks down cocaine could help prevent abstinence setbacks.
- Animals
Emperor penguin population could decline by 2100
Emperor penguins’ reign over Antarctic sea ice could be in decline by the beginning of the 22nd century.
- Neuroscience
Shaking up the body may improve attention
Just two minutes of whole body vibrations improved young adults’ attention to detail.
- Life
One lichen is actually 126 species and counting
One supposedly well-known tropical lichen could really be several hundred kinds.
