Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
In a crisis, fruit flies do stunt turns
An elaborate monitoring system reveals that fruit flies can execute sophisticated flying maneuvers in the face of danger.
- Neuroscience
Smell wiring gets set early
Mess with a baby mouse’s olfaction for too long and neurons never recover.
- Paleontology
La Brea Tar Pits yield exquisite Ice Age bees
Ancient bee pupae snug in leafy nest give clues to Pleistocene climate.
- Life
Amoebas’ munching may cause diarrheal disease
Amoebas biting and swallowing pieces of human cells may be what causes amebic dysentery, a potentially fatal diarrheal disease in the developing world.
- Life
Males compete all the way to sperm shape
An association between the ratio of certain proteins in mouse sperm and sexual competition raises many questions about what exactly gives a sperm a good head.
- Animals
Small sperm whale species share a diet
Dwarf and pygmy species of sperm whales overlap in what they eat, and that could be a problem as the food web changes around them.
- Animals
Coquí frogs got smaller, squeakier as climate warmed
As temperatures climbed in Puerto Rico, the calls of male coquí frogs became higher pitched.
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- Life
Common lung infection suffocates with single protein
A Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, protein creates clumps of dead, bloblike lung cells.
- Animals
See-through shrimp flex invisible muscle
Much of the body of a Pederson’s transparent shrimp looks like watery nothing, but it’s a superhero sort of nothing.
- Health & Medicine
Changes in kids’ genomes linked to chronic stress
In a study of 40 nine-year-old boys, kids from underprivileged backgrounds had telomeres that were 19 percent shorter than those of boys from more privileged environments.
- Paleontology
Ancient crustacean had elaborate heart
The now-extinct Fuxianhuia protensa had a fancy cardiovascular system that sent blood to its limbs and organs, including its brain.
