Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Long-lived people distinguished by DNA
A controversial study finds genetic signatures that may be able to identify people with the best chance of living to 100 or beyond.
- Neuroscience
Self as Symbol
The loopy nature of consciousness trips up scientists studying themselves.
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- Life
Archaeopteryx wore black
Microscopic structures in an iconic fossil feather suggest that it was the color of a crow.
- Life
Chemo drug drives growth of some tumors
A common treatment stimulates the growth of cells that give rise to ovarian cancer, but researchers may have a fix.
- Life
Boxwood blight invades North America
The devastating fungus has already stripped shrubbery down to sticks in Europe and New Zealand.
- Life
Boas take pulse as they snuff it out
Snakes use the waning throb in their prey as a signal to stop squeezing.
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- Life
Rising carbon dioxide confuses brain signaling in fish
Nerve cells respond to acidifying waters.
- Humans
Bush meat can be a viral feast
Monkeys and apes are considered edible game in many parts of Africa. As Africans have emigrated to other parts of the world, some have retained their love of this so-called bushmeat. A new study now finds that even when smoked, meat from nonhuman primates — from chimps to monkeys — can host potentially dangerous viruses. Smuggled imports confiscated at U.S. airports provided the samples tested in this investigation.
- Life
Crabs hither, shrimp thither
Biologists document surprising differences among deep-sea animals at hydrothermal vent fields.
