Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Sardine fishery may be in peril
Cool ocean cycle, population slide evoke collapse of Pacific resource in the late 1940s.
- 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.
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Genetics
Crosses make lab mice even more useful
Scientists have bred new strains of lab animals with the goal of making it easier to tease out genetic components of complex diseases.
- Life
All genes aren’t indispensable
Even healthy people may have about 20 genes that are completely inactivated, a new study finds.
- Life
Seeing, feeling have something in common
A protein needed for eye development is also involved in detecting vibrations.
- Life
Yeast find use for misfolded proteins
Protein bundles may help single-celled organisms adapt to difficult environmental conditions.
- Humans
Food exports can drain arid regions
Many dry regions ‘export’ large amounts of water in the form of agricultural products.
