Life

  1. Chemistry

    Guards of the blood-brain barrier identified

    Specialized cells called pericytes are crucial to protecting the central nervous system, two new studies demonstrate.

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  2. Life

    More than a chicken, fewer than a grape

    A decade after the completion of the Human Genome Project, the exact number of human genes remains elusive.

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  3. Life

    New species a little nipper

    A mongoose-like creature from Madagascar is the first new carnivore to be discovered in more than two decades.

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  4. Life

    Pterosaurs might have soared 10,000 miles nonstop

    Flight analysis suggests ancient reptiles were record setters.

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  5. Chemistry

    Bacteria go electric

    Microbes that wire themselves up could turn waste into power.

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  6. Life

    One small step for a snail, one giant leap for snailkind

    Experiments suggest that gastropods shed their shells in one fell swoop during the evolutionary transition that created slugs.

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  7. Life

    An oceanic endeavor

    Marine census catalogs creatures that roam all corners of the seas.

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  8. Life

    The unusual suspects

    With no obvious culprit in sight, geneticists do broader sweeps to identify autism’s causes.

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  9. Life

    Bacteria strut their stuff

    Videos show that microbes can walk on hairlike appendages.

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  10. Animals

    A little climate change goes a long way in the tropics

    In hot places, even minor warming could rev up metabolism in animals that don’t generate their own heat, a new analysis suggests.

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  11. Life

    Massive count a drop in the bucket

    As the decade-long Census of Marine Life totes up thousands of new species, it leaves much yet to discover in the world’s oceans.

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  12. Life

    To researchers’ surprise, one Pseudomonas infection is much like the next

    Consistent genetic changes in the lung bacteria that commonly plague cystic fibrosis patients are a welcome discovery because they may point to new treatment strategies.

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