Life
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Cats attracted to ADHD drug, a feline poison
Since 2004, drugs designed for use by people have been the leading source of poisonings among companion animals, according to the national Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Ill. And among cats, Adderall – a combination of mixed amphetamine salts used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – has quickly risen to become one of the most common and dangerous of these pharmaceutical threats.
- Health & Medicine
For a lucky few, ‘dioxins’ might be heart healthy
Dioxins and their kin are notorious poisons. They work by turning on what many biologists had long assumed was a vestigial receptor with no natural beneficial role. But it now appears that in a small proportion of people, this receptor may confer heart benefits.
- Health & Medicine
First complete look at families’ genes
Comparing the complete genetic material of family members pinpoints genes involved in three rare inherited diseases.
- Life
Chicken cells have strong sense of sexual identity
In birds, hormones may not be the last word in determining males and females.
- Life
Evolutionary genetic relationships coming into focus
Researchers have filled in about 40 percent of the tree of life for mammals and birds, but other vertebrates lag behind.
- Life
Chameleon tongues snappy even when cold
Collagen gives the creatures a bug-catching advantage in chilly conditions.
- Life
Boys and girls differ in genetic response to what mom eats
Expectant mothers’ diets may influence gene activity differently in the placentas that feed sons and daughters, a new mouse study reveals.
- Health & Medicine
Gene linked to pain perception
A common genetic variant that appears to increase sensitivity could lead to the development of better medications.
- Earth
Green-ish pesticides bee-devil honey makers
Pesticides are agents designed to rid targeted portions of the human environment of undesirable critters – such as boll weevils, roaches or carpenter ants. They’re not supposed to harm beneficials. Like bees. Yet a new study from China finds that two widely used pyrethroid pesticides – chemicals that are rather “green” as bug killers go – can significantly impair the pollinators’ reproduction.
- Earth
Country ants make it big in the city
Odorous house ants act like invading aliens when they discover urban living.
- Life
Mature females key to beluga sturgeon survival
Hatchery fish are unlikely to restore caviar-producing fish populations, a new assessment finds.
- Earth
Fowl surprise! Methylmercury improves hatching rate
A pinch of methylmercury is just ducky for mallard reproduction, according to a new federal study. The findings are counterintuitive, since methylmercury is ordinarily a potent neurotoxic pollutant.
