Life

Sign up for our newsletter

We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Plants

    Tree rings’ lack of volcanic signature confuses climate calculations

    By
  2. Life

    After a breakup, coral embryos live on as clones

    Even modest waves can break apart embryonic corals, but the bits that survive can grow into separate clones.

    By
  3. Life

    When giant fleas roamed

    Fossils show ancient insects grew as long as 2 centimeters.

    By
  4. Life

    Pollutants long gone, but disease carries on

    Even without new exposures, various chemicals can impact DNA and cause illness across at least three subsequent generations, rat study finds.

    By
  5. Anthropology

    Frozen mummy’s genetic blueprints unveiled

    DNA study reveals the 5,300-year-old Iceman had brown eyes, Lyme disease and links to modern-day Corsicans and Sardinians.

    By
  6. Life

    Sardine fishery may be in peril

    Cool ocean cycle, population slide evoke collapse of Pacific resource in the late 1940s.

    By
  7. Life

    Brain cells know which way you’ll bet

    Activity of nerve cells in a key brain structure reveals how people will bet in a card game.

    By
  8. Neuroscience

    When video games mess with brains, something good happens, sometimes

    By
  9. Life

    Eggs may be made throughout adulthood

    The discovery of stem cells in human ovaries suggests that women are not born with a lifetime’s supply of gametes.

    By
  10. Life

    Bird flu less deadly, but more widespread, than official numbers suggest

    The H5N1 virus appears to have infected far more than the 573 officially confirmed victims.

    By
  11. Life

    Old-fashioned fish regrow fins

    Fish on an ancient line can regenerate lost limbs with newt-like flair, suggesting that ability was shared among ancient ancestors.

    By
  12. Life

    The bloom isn’t off this ancient plant

    Using fruit found in Siberia’s permafrost, scientists grow oldest flowering specimen ever produced from preserved tissue.

    By