Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Protein may be new target for obesity, diabetes therapies
Molecule regulates flip of a metabolic switch, helps determine how the body uses glucose.
- Life
Snail in shining armor
A deep-sea gastropod’s natural shield may offer ideas for human protection.
- Life
Jiminy Cricket! Pollinator caught in the act
Using night-vision cameras, scientists have documented the first example of cricket pollination of an orchid and discovered a new species of the insect on the island of Réunion.
- Life
Alligators breathe like birds
Tricky measurements of flow reveal that air moves through the animal in one direction.
- Climate
Acidifying ocean may stifle phytoplankton
Chemical changes in seawater make a key nutrient less available to these organisms.
- Life
Soybean genome turns out to be soysoybeanbean
The plant's newly sequenced genetic blueprint includes a surprising number of spare copies.
- Life
Why light makes migraines worse
A new study traces brain wiring to discover why light increases migraine pain.
- Life
Sea slug steals genes for greens, makes chlorophyll like a plant
A sea slug, long known as a kidnapper of algal biochemistry, can make its own supply of a key photosynthetic compound.
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- Life
Bornavirus genes found in human DNA
Researchers have found molecular fossils of an RNA virus in human and other mammalian genomes, pushing back the emergence of RNA viruses millions of years.
- Earth
Footprints could push back tetrapod origins
Newly discovered trackways much older than previous evidence for sea-to-land transition.
- Life
Moss counters shortness with A-bomb-style clouds
Sphagnum overcomes drag by launching its spores in vortex rings.
