Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Ancient birds wiped out huge insects
Competition in the air trumped the advantage of extra atmospheric oxygen.
- Life
Antiaging protein helps set daily rhythms
Changing levels of sirtuin in the brain alter activity patterns in mice.
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- Genetics
Poppies make more than opium
A 10-gene cluster controls the flowers’ production of a valuable cough suppressant and antitumor compound.
- Life
Treatment helps paralyzed rats walk
A combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and therapy can restore lost connections between lower limbs and brain.
- Life
Blue-green algae release chemical suspected in some amphibian deformities
Retinoic acid levels high in waterways rich in cyanobacteria blooms.
- Animals
Bat killer hits endangered grays
The news on white-nose syndrome just keeps spiraling downward. The fungal infection, which first emerged six years ago, has now been confirmed in a seventh species of North American bats — the largely cave-dwelling grays (Myotis grisecens). The latest victims were struck while hibernating this past winter in two Tennessee counties.
- Life
How not to eat the wrong frog
Panamanian bats use an array of senses to keep from ingesting poison prey.
- Life
Blue light tells plants when to flower
Protein that marks day length also coordinates blooming genes.
- Life
Delay of bloom blamed on climate change
Flowers that appear immune to global warming in spring may simply be taking a cue from the previous warmer autumn.
- Life
No new smell cells
Other mammals constantly create new olfactory neurons as they learn new smells, but a new study suggests humans don’t.
- Life
Climate change miscues may shrink species’ outer limits
Ecological partnerships are getting out of sync especially at high latitudes, a study of hummingbirds suggests.
