Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Honeybee CSI: Why dead bodies can’t be found
Virus could explain one symptom of colony collapse.
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- Ecosystems
Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet by Oliver Morton
HarperCollins, 2008, 460 p., $28.95.
- Life
Fat cells also linked to prion infection
Disease-causing misfolded proteins at home in a growing list of tissues, organs.
- Life
Spanish Inquisition couldn’t quash Moorish, Jewish genes
Finding suggests modern history, not just prehistory, can leave a strong mark on a region’s genetic signature.
- Life
Funny smell may have split bee species
Among male bees that create their own perfume, a change in the sense of smell might mean a split in species.
- Health & Medicine
Protein found to set the heart’s cadence
Researchers have discovered a molecular metronome that sets the rhythm of the heart and blood pressure.
- Earth
Antidepressants make for sad fish
Fish may suffer substantially from even brief encounters with antidepressants, which wastewater releases into river water.
- Animals
Lizard push-ups grab attention
Nearby lizards more likely to get the message if its preceded by push-ups
- Paleontology
Bacteria may play big role in forming fossils
Bacteria can build a biofilm that preserves a tissue's structure.
- Life
Protein crucial in preventing Parkinson’s
By destroying bad mitochondria, Parkin protects cells
- Life
Mammoth genome approaching completion
Genetic material extracted from the hair of woolly mammoths has revealed new information about the extinct creatures, including how closely related they are to modern elephants.
