Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Many genes in dolphins and bats evolved in the same way to allow echolocation
Widespread changes scattered across the genomes of distantly related species cooperated to craft the trait.
- Animals
Seeking the loneliest whale
An enigmatic whale roams the North Pacific, and next year Bruce Mate will lead a monthlong expedition to find it.
- Animals
Collision Course
The tales of two ornithologists trying to prevent birds colliding with windows highlight the obstacles facing applied biology.
- Animals
Rats induced into hibernation-like state
Injection of compound causes animals to slow heartbeat, lower body temperature.
- Neuroscience
Video game sharpens up elderly brains
Adults over 60 who played for several hours a month beat untrained 20-year-olds in racing game.
- Animals
New fungus species found killing salamanders
First there was amphibian killer fungus Bd. Now there's Bs.
- Animals
Traveling with elders helps whooping cranes fly straight
Rare data show birds get more efficient the more they migrate along route between Wisconsin and Florida.
- Life
Tiny human almost-brains made in lab
Stem cells arrange themselves into a version of the most complex human organ.
- Life
Flu antibodies can make disease worse
Pigs vaccinated against one influenza virus got lung damage if infected with another strain.
- Life
A fight between gut parasites means a win for people
Worms and Giardia can antagonize each other in the human intestinal tract, study of people in the Amazon suggests.
- Animals
Porpoises Can Teach Man Marine Diving, Detection
Excerpt from the September 7, 1963, issue of Science News Letter
- Microbes
Let the bedbugs bite
Harold Harlan has been feeding bedbugs, intentionally, on his own blood since 1973. He keeps pint or quart jars in his home containing at least 4,000 bugs.
