Life

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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Plants

    Bees face ‘unprecedented’ pesticide exposures at home and afield

    Honey bees are being hammered by some mysterious environmental plaque that has a name — colony collapse disorder – but no established cause. A two-year study now provides evidence indicting one likely group of suspects: pesticides. It found “unprecedented levels” of mite-killing chemicals and crop pesticides in hives across the United States and parts of Canada.

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  2. Life

    There are rules in fiddler crab fight club

    Territorial crustaceans will defend their own rivals, but only to keep stronger ones out.

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  3. Paleontology

    Fossilized poop bears tooth marks

    Shark-bitten fecal matter probably came from an assault on an ancient croc.

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  4. Earth

    Ice drilling nets shrimpy surprise

    Underwater camera captures an Antarctic crustacean, as a serendipitous part of a larger ice shelf study.

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  5. Life

    Who reined the dogs in

    New genetic data reveals that Fido likely originated in the Middle East.

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  6. Chemistry

    Methane-making microbes thrive under the ice

    Antarctica’s ice sheets could hide vast quantities of the greenhouse gas, churned out by a buried ecosystem.

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  7. Life

    To catch a thief, follow his filthy hands

    Bacteria from a person’s hands may provide a new type of fingerprint.

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  8. Ecosystems

    Iron fertilization in ocean nourishes toxic algae

    Efforts to prevent global warming by fertilizing the oceans with iron could trigger harmful algal blooms.

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  9. Plants

    Chemists pin down poppy’s tricks for making morphine

    Scientists have figured out two of the final key steps in the chain of chemical reactions that the opium poppy uses to synthesize morphine, suggesting possible signaling strategies for new ways of making the drug and its cousin painkillers.

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  10. Chemistry

    Pit vipers’ night vision explained

    A new study finds the protein responsible for snakes’ sense of heat.

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  11. Life

    Ingredients of hagfish slime revealed

    Figuring out the ingredients still doesn’t explain how the fishes avoid premature mucus explosions

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  12. Science & Society

    Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

    In her new book, science writer Rebecca Skloot describes how Henrietta Lacks' cells changed the face of modern medical science.

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