Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Your gut microbes are what you eat
A mammal's diet strongly influences what kinds of microorganisms live in its intestines.
- Life
Numbers flap has minor implications for global extinctions
A statistical technique used to estimate rates of species disappearance is flawed, two ecologists charge — but not enough to invalidate recent dire assessments.
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- Humans
Geographic profiling fights disease
Widely used to snare serial criminals, a forensic method finds application in epidemiology.
- Life
Daytime bites for zombie ants
The living dead of the insect world show an unexplained sense of timing: a surge of strange activity in the a.m. followed by a final death grip at midday.
- Chemistry
Melting icebergs fertilize ocean
Releasing extra iron into the water boosts carbon dioxide uptake by plankton.
- Life
Genes & Cells
Why mosquitoes don’t get malaria, plus brain stem cells and hot cancer treatment in this week’s news.
- Life
Body attacks lab-made stem cells
In mice, the immune system targets and destroys reprogrammed adult skin cells, raising questions about their medical potential.
- Life
New fungi the dark matter of mushrooms
Scientists see the first images of an ancient lineage of microbes that can’t be grown in the lab.
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- Life
Animals quickly colonized freshwater
Fossilized worm burrows show that life had moved beyond the oceans by 530 million years ago.
- Life
Fungus strikes but doesn’t kill European bats
Organism that is devastating North American populations might have coevolved with hosts overseas.
