Life

  1. Health & Medicine

    Stressed-out DNA turns mousy brown hair gray

    Scientists show how change happens when cells responsible for colorful hair lose their self-renewing abilities.

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  2. Life

    Hummingbird pulls Top Gun stunts

    Male hummingbirds set record for extreme plunges out of the sky.

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  3. Physics

    Friction gives snakes a smooth slither

    Combination of friction and push propels snakes forward on flat surfaces.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Book Review: Deep Brain Stimulation: A New Treatment Shows Promise in the Most Difficult Cases by Jamie Talan

    Review by Nathan Seppa.

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  5. Ecosystems

    From sea to squid, thanks to slime

    Scientists have revealed new details about the genes — and the goo — that enable luminescent bacteria to colonize their symbiotic marine partner.

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  6. Chemistry

    Protein caught in the act

    Researchers have developed a new way to see where the molecules are active.

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  7. Life

    Huntington’s protein may have a crony

    The mutant protein implicated in Huntington’s may rely on a second protein. The finding could help explain why only some neurons are vulnerable to the disease.

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  8. Life

    Tickling apes reveals laughter’s origins

    Roots of laughter go back at least 10 to 16 million years, study of romping apes suggests.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Nicotine’s role in SIDS

    New study in rats explains how smoke exposure may increase risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

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  10. Life

    No rest for weary fruit flies

    Fruit flies with insomnia may help researchers track genetic factors that lead to the sleep disorder.

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  11. Life

    Phony fighters discovered among fig wasps

    A newly discovered species of fig wasp has a fraction of dishonest guys with big mouthparts.

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  12. Life

    Engineered DNA counts it out

    Scientists create a biological system that uses the genetic code to tally up molecular events.

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