Life
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Viruses rewritten
Scientists could create wimpy versions of real viruses to develop vaccines for emerging diseases.
- Life
Losing sleep
A genetic source of mental retardation and autism may also disrupt sleep patterns.
- Agriculture
Bee-Loved Plantings
Zipcode-organized guidelines tell gardeners, farmers and others how to design a landscape that will not only entice pollinators but also keep these horticultural helpers happy.
By Janet Raloff - Life
Fossil helps document shift from sea to land
New fossils of an ancient, four-limbed creature help fill in the blanks of the evolutionary transition between fish and the first land-adapted vertebrates.
By Sid Perkins - Plants
Move it or lose it
Climate change may have dire consequences for California’s native plants, which may need to take refuge in some the areas under pressure for development.
- Animals
Don’t blame the guys
Scientists take a new look at what drives female damselflies to look like males.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Epigenetic shifts continue throughout a person’s lifetime, and the overall pattern of these shifts appears similar within families.
- Ecosystems
Human ‘Signature’ in Fish Losses
Why the whales-ate-my-fish argument doesn't hold water.
By Janet Raloff - Ecosystems
On Whales’ Appetites: What a Waste
An advocacy group and renowned scientist floundered in an attempt to compel opinion shapers with the science showing that industrial fleets, not whales, pose a serious threat to fish stocks.
By Janet Raloff - Life
Nearly immortal sea creature spreads
Hydrozoan with reversible life cycle now found worldwide.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Whaling back to the future
International commission meets after soul-searching on years of dispute.
By Susan Milius - Life
When cells go quiet
Connections between nerve cells may be lost when communication between the cells lapses.
By Amy Maxmen