Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Suppress-the-mob gene found in queen termites
Gene may help keep workers from illicit, royalty-threatening reproduction.
- Animals
Basking sharks head south for winter
Satellite-tagging data suggest that basking sharks migrate south to the Caribbean in winter.
- Earth
U.S. radiation dose has doubled
New analysis finds radiation-based medical procedures have skyrocketed.
- Life
Portuguese trove of trilobite fossils
Fossils include largest known trilobite specimen and groups of the ancient arthropods caught in the act of molting and spawning.
- Earth
Report of earlier, longer puberty in girls
A Danish study finds young girls are entering puberty notably earlier than 15 years ago — for reasons that remain unknown.
- Health & Medicine
Narcolepsy linked to immune system
Genome association study finds a second connection between the sleep disorder and the body's disease-fighting apparatus
- Life
Ants may be the Undead
Living Argentine ant workers may carry the chemical signatures of death along with an override signal that says, "No undertaker needed yet."
- Paleontology
Soft tissue from a dino fossil
Researchers have uncovered soft tissue and fragments of several proteins from a hadrosaur.
- Life
Expansive genetic diversity in Africa revealed
Largest genetic study of African populations yields clues about the origin of modern humans and the ancestry of African-Americans
- Life
Birds bust a move to musical beats
Parrots and possibly other vocal-mimicking animals can synchronize their movements to a musical beat, two new studies suggest.
- Health & Medicine
Institute of Medicine takes on conflicts of interest
The Institute of Medicine seeks to divorce medical research from undue influence by the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries.
- Life
Connectivity may play role in autism
Large studies of autism suggest connections between neurons are the culprit.
