Life

  1. Animals

    Fish lose their fear on a denuded reef

    Juvenile damselfish lose their ability to smell danger when in a degraded habitat.

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  2. Neuroscience

    Like people, dogs have brain areas that respond to voices

    MRI study may help explain how pups understand human communication.

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  3. Life

    Fins and wings alike share design features

    Animals have adapted a number of different ways to swim and fly. But new research suggests that wings, fins and flukes share a couple of basic design parameters.

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  4. Life

    Questions raised about new method for making stem cells

    A January study showing that stem cells can be produced by dipping adult cells in a simple acid bath is now under investigation.

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  5. Life

    Big study raises worries about bees trading diseases

    Pathogens may jump from commercial colonies to the wild.

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  6. Animals

    Elephants offer a reassuring touch in stressful times

    Elephants seem to comfort their comrades in times of need, hinting that the animals may have the capacity for complicated mental feats such as empathy.

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  7. Animals

    Why was Marius, the euthanized giraffe, ever born?

    The problem of ‘surplus’ zoo animals reveals a divide on animal contraceptives.

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  8. Psychology

    Stress hormone rise linked to less risky financial decisions

    People given cortisol chose safer options, suggesting inherent risk aversion as an overlooked variable in financial crises.

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  9. Neuroscience

    White matter scaffold offers new view of the brain

    A new neural map of white matter connections may explain why some injuries are worse than others.

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  10. Animals

    A weighted butt gives chickens a dinosaur strut

    Scientists put wooden tails on chickens to learn how small feathered dinosaurs moved, with results captured on video.

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  11. Climate

    Sharks could serve as ocean watchdogs

    Tagged with sensors, toothy fish gather weather and climate data in remote Pacific waters.

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  12. Animals

    Secret feather flaps help a falcon control its dive

    The pop-up feathers of a falcon act similar to flaps on an airplane’s wing.

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