Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Moby Dick meets Jaws
A recently discovered fossil demonstrates that giant whales weren’t always as gentle as they are today.
- Earth
Ivy nanoparticles promise sunblocks and other green products
I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with English ivy that’s been devolving towards hate-hate. But a new paper may temper my antipathy. Apparently this backyard bully also offers a kinder, gentler alternative to the potentially toxic metal-based nanoparticles used in today’s sunscreens.
- Ecosystems
Bats, wolves feel the heat
News from the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in Laramie, Wyo., June 11-15
- Life
Resveratrol shows activity against insulin resistance and retinal disease
A widely touted anti-aging compound shows activity in people and may work in new ways to fight eye disease.
- Life
Fishy odor just like dad’s
Imprinting on their fathers’ scent helps keep two fish species separate.
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- Animals
Climate change may favor couch-potato elk
With drought and rising temperatures in Wyoming, migratory animals suffer while stay-at-home members of the same herd thrive
- Life
Baby’s first bacteria depend on birth route
C-section newborns may harbor fewer helpful microbes than infants born vaginally.
- Health & Medicine
Genetic defect tied to autoimmune diseases
Rare mutations in an enzyme lead to several different disorders.
- Science & Society
Citation inflation
Many journals – and the authors who publish their novel data and analyses in them – rely on “impact factors” as a gauge of the importance and prestige of their work. However, a new analysis turns up subtle ways that journals can game the system to artificially inflate their impact factor.
- Life
Forget mice, elephants intimidated by ants
Swarms of little nuisances have an outsized effect on who nibbles which trees in the African savanna.
- Health & Medicine
H1N1 virus lacks Spanish flu’s killer protein
Researchers uncover a deadly secret of Spanish flu.
