Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

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  1. Genetics

    Gene editing reverses liver disorder in mice

    By editing a mouse's genes with bacterial proteins, scientists have reversed a rare liver disorder in the animal.

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  2. Paleontology

    Microbes indicted in ancient mass extinction

    About 252 million years ago an estimated 96 percent of all species were wiped from Earth, and now scientists have a new suspect in the killing — methane-belching microbes.

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  3. Psychology

    Twenty-two emotions are written on our faces

    People’s faces express at least 22 feelings – far more than the six emotions scientists previously recognized.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    This rare skull-thickening disease led to a 3-D-printed replacement

    A skull implant made with a 3-D printer replaced the 2-inch-thick skull of a Dutch woman with the rare van Buchem disease.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why

    Scott Weems, a neuroscientist, takes readers on a wide-ranging tour that explains what humor is and why readers should care.

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  6. Animals

    As their homes warm, salamanders shrink

    Many species of salamanders respond to climate change by getting smaller.

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  7. Animals

    Giant pandas like sweets, but prefer the natural ones

    Despite sustaining themselves on bamboo, which isn't very sweet, giant pandas will indulge in a bit of sugar, if they can.

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  8. Animals

    Bats’ dinner conversation may go over your head

    Hunting big brown bats do more than echolocate. When male bats compete for a single prize, they send social calls to keep other bats at bay.

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  9. Neuroscience

    Ten thousand neurons linked to behaviors in fly

    By studying the wiggles of 37,780 fly larvae, scientists link specific neurons to 29 distinct behaviors.

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  10. Life

    First chromosome made synthetically from yeast

    Work with yeast marks the first time scientists have synthesized a chromosome from organisms with complex cells and represents a major step toward lab-created eukaryotic life.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Diet fix eases Huntington’s symptoms in mice

    Supplement improves health of rodents with mutation that causes neurodegeneration like that seen in Huntington’s disease.

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  12. Life

    With Taxol, chromosomes divide and get conquered

    New mechanism discovered for how the cancer drug Taxol works.

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