Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Fear can be inherited
Parents’ and even grandparents’ experiences echo in offspring, a study of mice finds.
- Neuroscience
Global neuro lab
With more than 50 million users, the brain-training website Lumosity is giving scientists access to an enormous collection of cognitive performance data. Mining the dataset could be the first step toward a new kind of neuroscience.
- Animals
DNA study reveals new wild cat species in Brazil
A new small cat species, Leopardus guttulus, was discovered in Brazil, hiding in plain sight. The oncilla, researchers say, is really two kinds of cat.
- Animals
Insect form of sexual frustration takes toll
Smelling female fruit flies but not mating with them can actually shorten males’ lives.
- Life
To cook up life, just add citrate
The theory that RNA spawned the first organisms gets a boost from a common compound.
- Ecosystems
Cannibalistic mantis invades New Zealand, eats natives
Native male New Zealand mantises try to mate with females of an invasive species, only to find out the hard way that those females eat their mates.
- Life
Compounds defeat malaria at every step
Experimental drugs are first to kill all stages of the parasite’s infection cycle.
- Animals
To study turkey instincts, consider robot turkeys
In 2004, Australian researchers built robot turkeys to study the instincts of Australian brush turkey chicks. Robots can be a useful way of learning more about animals, but the use of robots has yet to take over in animal behavior studies.
- Neuroscience
The memory benefits of distraction
We usually think of distraction as a bad thing for memory. But under certain conditions, distraction may help rather than hurt.
- Animals
Odd head of seahorse cloaks its sneak attacks
Head shape creates hydrodynamic fake-out for stealth hunting.
- Materials Science
Material inspired by dragonfly wings bursts bacteria
Silicon studded with nanostructures could act as antimicrobial coating on medical devices.
- Genetics
DNA changes may show how whales adapted to water
Comparing the genetic material of whales has revealed DNA changes that may have helped the animals adapt to aquatic environments.
