Life
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
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- Life
Second of two blocked flu papers released
Held back for months by a U.S. government biosafety board, the research pinpoints five mutations that render the potent H5N1 virus transmissible through air.
- Life
New frontiers for coyotes may bring more Lyme disease
Forget the deer. Maybe it's coyotes on the move that can explain the recent increase in Lyme disease.
- Life
Peacocks ruffle feathers, make a rumble
New recordings reveal that male birds use infrasound, emitting low-pitch sounds detected by peers but inaudible to human ears.
- Life
Chicks do worse in noisy nests
Baby bluebirds, and their parents, appear to have trouble communicating over the racket made by nearby humans.
- Ecosystems
Changing seasons inspire science
Researchers are tapping into the wealth of observations being made by citizen scientists nationwide. One of the largest repositories of such data is maintained by the USA National Phenology Network.
- Plants
The Man Who Planted Trees
Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet by Jim Robbins
- Animals
Mr. Hornaday’s War
How a Peculiar Victorian Zookeeper Waged a Lonely Crusade for Wildlife That Changed the World by Stefan Bechtel.
- Neuroscience
Hurt Blocker
The next big pain drug may soothe sensory firestorms without side effects.
- Animals
Animals on the Move
Worldwide — on land, in the sea and in rivers, streams and lakes — wildlife is responding to rising temperatures.
- Life
Grasshoppers’ terror outlives them
After an existence plagued by predatory spiders, the insects pass into oblivion, leaving a legacy of impoverished soil.
- Life
Calcium offers clues in mass extinction
Ocean acidification during Permian period may have caused the Great Dying.
