Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Chemistry

    Human blood types have deep evolutionary roots

    The ABO system may date back 20 million years or more, a genetic analysis suggests.

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  2. Life

    Hind wings gave four-winged dino flight control

    Much-debated rear wings could have given Microraptor extra help in airborne maneuvers.

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  3. Life

    Fasting hormone helps mice live longer

    A protein can trick the body into entering starvation mode.

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  4. Microbes

    Protecting the planet

    Catharine “Cassie” Conley has the coolest job title at NASA: She’s the agency’s planetary protection officer. (The best title used to be “director of the universe,” but a reconfiguration a few years back eliminated that job description, she says.)

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  5. Life

    Nouveaux Antennas

    A single hairlike appendage may allow a cell to sense the outside world

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  6. Genetics

    Genetic mutations may explain a brain cancer’s tenacity

    DNA damage may transform adult cells in glioblastoma, making the malignancy harder to kill.

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  7. Neuroscience

    Drug helps put bad memories to rest

    A brain injection before sleep aids fearful mice — and might lead to a PTSD treatment strategy.

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  8. Neuroscience

    Teens can keep their cool to win rewards

    An unexpected experimental result suggests adolescent impulsivity is not inevitable.

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  9. Life

    Thyroid in a dish

    Stem cells assemble themselves into a working gland.

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  10. Animals

    Early arthropod had a fancy brain

    A 520-million-year-old fossil of a segmented animal shows that sophisticated central nervous systems are surprisingly ancient.

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  11. Life

    Research in cell communication system wins 2012 chemistry Nobel

    G protein-coupled receptors relay messages from other cells and the environment into the cell's interior.

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  12. Life

    Pulsing blob makes memories sans brain

    Slime molds create a GPS navigation system based on their own gooey trails.

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