Life

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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    This butterfly is the first U.S. insect known to go extinct because of people

    A 93-year-old Xerces blue specimen’s DNA shows that the butterfly is a distinct species, making it the first U.S. insect humans drove to extinction.

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  2. Microbes

    Missing Antarctic microbes raise thorny questions about the search for aliens

    Scientists couldn’t find microbial life in soils from Antarctica, hinting at a limit for habitability on Earth and other worlds.

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  3. Life

    Pikas survive winter using a slower metabolism and, at times, yak poop

    Pikas endure bone-chilling temperatures on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau by reducing their metabolism, and when possible, eating yak poop.

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  4. Animals

    Climate change may be leading to overcounts of endangered bonobos

    A changing climate in Congo is affecting how scientists count bonobos’ nests, possibly skewing estimates of the great ape population, a study suggests.

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  5. Humans

    Only a tiny fraction of our DNA is uniquely human

    Some of the exclusively human tweaks to DNA may have played a role in brain evolution.

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  6. Paleontology

    Insects had flashy, noise-making wings as early as 310 million years ago

    The structure of a grasshopper-like insect’s fossilized wing suggests it crackled and reflected light, perhaps to attract mates or warn off predators.

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  7. Animals

    Would dogs return the favor if you gave them treats? It’s complicated

    An experiment in which dogs did not reciprocate food giving with humans may reveal something about the dogs, or about how science is done.

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  8. Animals

    Climate change may rob male dragonfly wings of their dark spots

    Less colorful, cooler wings may be advantageous to dragonflies in a warmer world. But the change could mess with the insects’ mating.

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  9. Animals

    Froghoppers are the super-suckers of the animal world

    To feed on plant xylem sap, a nutrient-poor liquid locked away under negative pressure, froghoppers have to suck harder than any known creature.

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  10. Climate

    The first step in using trees to slow climate change: Protect the trees we have

    In all the fuss over planting trillions of trees, we need to protect the forests that already exist.

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  11. Animals

    Dogs tune into people in ways even human-raised wolves don’t

    Puppies outpace wolf pups at engaging with humans, even with less exposure to people, supporting the idea that domestication has wired dogs’ brains.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    One mutation may have set the coronavirus up to become a global menace

    A study pinpoints a key mutation that may have put a bat coronavirus on the path to becoming a human pathogen, helping it better infect human cells.

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