Life
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Vital flaw
Liver cells that inherit the wrong number of chromosomes often do just fine, and may even have some advantages.
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- Planetary Science
Life’s cold start
Primordial molecules could have replicated themselves in a slushy place, new experiments suggest.
- Life
Minimolecule may explain how antidepressants work
Research finds that Prozac increases levels of a microRNA and may explain why the drugs take several weeks to work.
- Life
Streetlights turn young duds into studs
Nocturnal illumination starts youthful male blue tits chirping earlier in the morning, tempting the mates of their still-snoozing elders.
- Agriculture
A taste of the chocolate genome
Competing teams have announced the impending completion of the cacao DNA sequence.
- Life
Environmental DNA modifications tied to obesity
Chemical changes that affect gene activity could underlie many common conditions, a new study suggests.
- Life
Cuckoos thrown off by climate change
With earlier springs, the birds are duping a different mix of adoptive parents into raising their young.
- Life
Doing their part by not doing their part
Freeloaders can be good for a community, yeast experiments suggest.
- Chemistry
Cockroach brains, coming to a pharmacy near you
Insect tissue extracts show antibacterial activity in lab experiments.
- Health & Medicine
A cellular secret to long life
Longevity may depend in part on histones, proteins that keep DNA neatly spooled in the cell’s nucleus and help regulate gene activity.
- Ecosystems
Climate’s link to plague
Scientists have correlated changes in long-term Pacific Ocean temperature patterns with the incidence of a deadly bacterial pestilence, one spread by fleas living on and around mice and other rodents.
