Life

  1. Chemistry

    New bond in the basement

    Scientists identify a sulfur-nitrogen link, never before seen in living things, critical to holding the body together.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Mice with mutation feel the burn

    Instead of becoming obese, mice with a mutation in an immune gene burn off the fat they eat.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    From three to four chambers

    Scientists identify gene that may shape the heart.

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  4. Animals

    Play that monkey music

    Man-made music inspired by tamarin calls seems to alter the primates’ emotions, a new study suggests.

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  5. Earth

    Oh, rats — there go the snails

    A food fad among introduced rats has apparently crashed a once-thriving population of Hawaii’s famed endemic tree snails.

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  6. Animals

    Oops, missed that fossil iridescence

    Nanostructures on a preserved feather offer the first fossil evidence of bird colors not from pigments, a new study says.

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  7. Earth

    A trip to the garbage patch

    Scientists bring back samples from the oceanic garbage patch off the coast of California.

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  8. Life

    Domesticated silkworms’ secrets

    After mapping the genetic book of instructions for wild and domesticated silkworms, scientists identify changes associated with the taming of these caterpillars.

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  9. Animals

    Fruity whiff may inspire new mosquito repellents

    Odors from ripening bananas can jam fruit flies’ and mosquitoes’ power to detect carbon dioxide, a new study finds.

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  10. Life

    Mitochondrial DNA replacement successful in Rhesus monkeys

    New procedure may halt some serious inherited diseases, a study suggests.

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  11. Chemistry

    Leptin leads to hamster baby boom

    High levels of leptin may tell mother hamsters to invest in larger litters, a new study suggests.

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  12. Life

    Excess folic acid sits idle

    Humans metabolize folic acid at a slow rate, suggesting that additional folic acid may yield no more benefits than recommended doses do, researchers report.

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