Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Plants
How weeds hitchhike across the country
A drive down a muddy lane can be fun, but it can also pick up the seeds of weeds or invasive species and transport them far away.
- Life
Fungal fight club
Combat between fungal individuals is a bit like war between heaps of spaghetti.
- Paleontology
New dinosaur species joins ranks of giant carnivores
The newly named Siats meekerorum probably roamed what is now Utah about 98 million years ago terrorizing the ancestors of T. rex.
- Agriculture
Probiotics may protect piglets from E. coli infection
Beneficial bacteria could replace antibiotics in pig feed.
- Neuroscience
Gene that boosts Alzheimer’s risk might protect against it too
Carrying certain genetic versions of apolipoprotein E is a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. A new study looks at the effects of different types of APOE on the major markers of Alzheimer’s in mice and shows that all forms are not equal.
- Life
Only two Y chromosome genes needed for viable mouse sperm
Healthy and fertile mice were born from embryos created using spermlike cells.
- Life
Chemotherapy needs gut bacteria to work
Antibiotics may prevent anticancer drugs from killing tumors.
- Animals
Malformed frogs rarer than thought
Frogs with skin cysts or shortened or missing legs make up only 2 percent of the amphibians collected during a 10-year study.
