Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Oh, rats — there go the snails
A food fad among introduced rats has apparently crashed a once-thriving population of Hawaii’s famed endemic tree snails.
- Animals
Oops, missed that fossil iridescence
Nanostructures on a preserved feather offer the first fossil evidence of bird colors not from pigments, a new study says.
- Earth
A trip to the garbage patch
Scientists bring back samples from the oceanic garbage patch off the coast of California.
- Life
Domesticated silkworms’ secrets
After mapping the genetic book of instructions for wild and domesticated silkworms, scientists identify changes associated with the taming of these caterpillars.
- Animals
Fruity whiff may inspire new mosquito repellents
Odors from ripening bananas can jam fruit flies’ and mosquitoes’ power to detect carbon dioxide, a new study finds.
- Life
Mitochondrial DNA replacement successful in Rhesus monkeys
New procedure may halt some serious inherited diseases, a study suggests.
- Chemistry
Leptin leads to hamster baby boom
High levels of leptin may tell mother hamsters to invest in larger litters, a new study suggests.
- Life
Excess folic acid sits idle
Humans metabolize folic acid at a slow rate, suggesting that additional folic acid may yield no more benefits than recommended doses do, researchers report.
- Life
Bomb-tastic new worms
Scientists find previously unknown deep-sea species that launch bioluminescent packets.
- Animals
Back off, extinct moa
A New Zealand tree’s peculiar leaves may have served as defenses against long-gone giant birds.
- Life
Tasmanian devils have no star networkers
Tasmanian devils all know each other, a new study shows. The discovery could mean that stopping the spread of an infectious cancer will be harder than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Worm-inspired superglue
Researchers create a material that may one day be used to paste together bones in the body.
