Life
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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LifeMere fear shrinks bird families
Just hearing recordings of predators, in the absence of any real danger, caused sparrows to raise fewer babies.
By Susan Milius -
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LifeCilia control eating signal
Little hairlike appendages in brain cells control weight by sequestering an appetite hormone.
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LifeBuilding the body electric
Eyes can be grown in a frog’s gut by changing cells’ electrical properties, scientists find, opening up new possibilities for generating and regenerating complex organs.
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LifeEggs have own biological clock
Reproductive cells age independently from the rest of the body, research in worms reveals.
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HumansDNA highlights Native American die-off
A genetic analysis points to widespread New World deaths after Europeans arrived.
By Bruce Bower -
LifeVying for the title of World’s Fastest Cell
Scientists film 58 kinds of mobile cells to study movement — and to have a little fun.
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LifeBiology’s big bang had a long fuse
The fossil record’s earliest troves of animal life are the result of more than 200 million years of evolution.
By Susan Milius -
LifeCretaceous Thanksgiving
A fossilized feathered dinosaur dined on bird not long before its own demise.
By Susan Milius -
LifeDNA to flutter by
The complete genetic instruction book for making monarch butterflies contains information about how the insects manage their long migration to Mexico.
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LifeUnraveling synesthesia
Tangled senses may have genetic or chemical roots, or both.
By Nick Bascom