Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Genome from a bottle
Cells switch species when given synthetic DNA, an advance that could lead to designer organisms.
- Animals
Argonauts use shells as flotation devices
The octopus relatives create their own buoyancy devices by gulping and hoarding air from the surface.
- Life
Light shows fMRI works as advertised
Optogenetic method validates assumption underlying brain imaging technique.
- Animals
Fight or flee, it’s in the pee
Researchers get a better understanding of how mice smell a rat, or a cat, and maybe even a snake.
- Earth
Lizards threatened by warming
Analysis suggests climate change could wipe out 20 percent of species, 39 percent of local populations.
- Earth
Earliest birds didn’t make a flap
The feathers of Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis probably were not strong enough to support sustained flight.
- Ecosystems
Spill update: From booms to dispersants
Choppy seas prevailed in the northern Gulf of Mexico on May 13, with even protected waters hostingrough 4 to 5 foot waves, according to the Coast Guard. But three-plus weeks into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing spill from a BP exploratory well, measures to respond to the catastrophe continued ramping up.
- Life
Eureka, brain makes real mental leaps
Studies of rats reveal neuron activity changes en masse during aha moments.
- Life
All present-day life arose from a single ancestor
A major tenet of evolutionary theory — that all life stems from a common source — passes a statistical test.
- Animals
Mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re the scariest fish of all
That thing in the mirror may be more upsetting than a real fish.
- Earth
Archaeopteryx fossil seen in new light
X-ray technique reveals original tissue in the feathers of a primitive bird fossil.
- Life
One ocean, four (or more) killer whale species
A new genetic analysis splits killer whales into multiple taxa.
