Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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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.
- Life
Green gleam helps fish see violet
A deep-sea fish's eyes apparently use fluorescence to pick up hard-to-detect hues, researchers conclude.
- Life
Rhino beetle’s horn may be cheap
Outrageous-looking head spikes on the male of the species may not cost much in evolutionary terms.
- Life
Eight-legged evolution exploits editing
Octopuses adapt to water temperature with tweaks to how genes are copied, not DNA itself.
- Life
Three monkeys a genetic mishmash
Feat suggests embryonic stem cells are less flexible in primates than mice.
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- Humans
Botanists et al freed from Latin, paper
As of January 1, people who classify new plant, algae and fungus species can do it in English and online.
- Life
Sun-oil mix deadly for young herring
Fish embryos proved surprisingly vulnerable to a 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay.
- Humans
Bt: The lesson not learned
The more things change, the more they stay the same, as a Dec. 29 Associated Press report on genetically engineered corn notes. Like déjà vu, this news story on emerging resistance to Bt toxin — a fabulously effective and popular insecticide to protect corn — brings to mind articles I encountered over the weekend while flipping through historic issues of Science News. More than a half-century ago, our magazine chronicled, real time, the emergence of resistance to DDT, the golden child of pest controllers worldwide. Now much the same thing is happening again with Bt, its contemporary agricultural counterpart. Will we never learn?
