Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Seeing without eyes
Scientists are looking into the cellular pathways that allow an eyeless roundworm to see.
- Life
Fountain of Youth, with caveats
A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.
- Agriculture
Fishy Data on Weed Killer
A popular weed killer can feminize wildlife by tinkering with a gene that indirectly affects the production of sex hormones.
- Science & Society
Climate Threatens Living Fossil
Thanks to global warming, within the lifetimes of certain reptiles in the South Pacific, all members of their species could be born male.
- Life
Embryos can learn visually
For cuttlefish embryos, what they see is what they'll crave as food later
- Chemistry
HIV knockout
Cutting a gene in immune cells could offer a new way to treat HIV infections.
- Animals
Mighty mites
Mites that were thought to be parasites to their host wasps turn out to be bodyguards, attacking intruders.
- Animals
Live fast, die young
With a lifespan of just five months, the chameleon Furcifer labordi leads a briefer life than any other land-dwelling vertebrate.
- Math
Optimizing leafy networks
Scientists reveal a mathematical principle underlying the arrangement of leaf veins in plant species.
- Animals
Whaling, to be announced
The 60th meeting of the International Whaling Commission defers voting on deadlocked issues
- Ecosystems
Ecosystem engineers
Nonnative earthworms are deliberately burying ragweed seeds, enhancing the weed’s growth, researchers report.
- Chemistry
Quantifying the “gene for” fallacy
Looking at one gene at a time misses about a third of the genes that contribute to the way a cell functions, scientists say.
