Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Analog circuits boost power in living computers
New cell-based computers do division and logarithms more like a slide rule than a laptop.
- Humans
Highlights from the Biology of Genomes meeting
Highlights from the genome biology meeting held May 7-11 in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., include an enormous tree's enormous genome, genes for strong-swimming sperm, and back-to-Africa migration some 3,000 years ago.
- Life
Invasive frogs may spread deadly amphibian fungus
African clawed frogs imported for 20th century pregnancy tests apparently communicate B. dendrobatidis to native species.
- Animals
Embracing the swarm
Entomologist Michael Raupp is enjoying Swarmageddon. The giant batch of cicadas began emerging from the ground in late April and will be heard in some northeastern states through June.
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- Animals
Malaria parasite drives mosquitoes to human scent
Compared to uninfected insects, ones carrying disease land more often on sweat-soaked stockings.
- Life
Cloning produces human embryonic stem cells
Fine-tuning of technique used in other animals could enable personalized medicine.
- Animals
Tamed fox shows domestication’s effects on the brain
Gene activity changes accompany doglike behavior in foxes bred over more than 50 years.
- Life
Fossils point to ancient ape-monkey split
Apes and monkeys split from a common ancestor more than 25 million years ago, fossil finds suggest.
- Life
Body’s clock linked to depression
Gene activity in the brain suggests that circadian rhythms are off-kilter in people with depression.
- Animals
The secret behind the alligator’s toothy smile
Dental stem cells enable the reptile to grow new teeth every year, researchers find.
- Animals
Cannibalistic spiders may just be choosy guys
Male Micaria sociabilis may choose to have older female for lunch, not sex.
