Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Among bass, easiest to catch are best dads
Recreational fishing may be inadvertent evolutionary force, favoring cautious fish over better caretakers of the young.
- Life
Gut bacteria may affect cardiovascular risk
An abundance of antioxidant-producing microbes seems to keep plaques from breaking free and causing heart attacks and stroke.
- Life
Immune disease an added blow to fungus-ridden bat populations
Rare immune complication previously seen only in people devastates animals that had appeared to evade white nose syndrome.
- Humans
Genetic diversity exploded in recent millennia
Among hundreds of thousands of DNA variants identified in a study, a large majority arose in the past 5,000 years.
- Life
Blue whales’ diet and exercise rolled into one
Marine predator performs underwater acrobatics for best chance at catching a meal.
- Life
Trees worldwide a sip away from dehydration
Plumbing systems operate on a razor’s edge, making even moist forests highly vulnerable to drought.
- Life
Chromosome ends hold clues to a bird’s longevity
Short telomeres are tied to higher mortality in Indian Ocean warblers.
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- Life
Rainforest katydids evolved mammal-like ears
Tiny hearing organs below insect’s knees have a structure similar to those in humans.
- Life
Ebola may go airborne
Infected pigs can transmit virus to primates without contact, a new study finds.
- Anthropology
Highlights from the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting
Iceman’s origins, DNA fingerprinting, microRNAs and cancer risk, and growth genes and obesity risk.
- Life
Telomere length linked to risk of dying
Large study examines association between protective caps at end of chromosomes and health.
