In the Dec. 8 SN: Parkinson’s gut connections, beaver ecosystem engineering, Greenland’s hidden impact crater, the kilogram redefined, figurative cave art in Borneo, Dione’s stripes and more.
ON THE BRAIN Lab-grown brain organoids (one shown) mimic the real thing, analyses suggest. Along with other parts of a large research effort called PsychENCODE, the organoid results may offer new clues about psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia.
Vaccarino Lab
COMPLEX MAIZE Modern corn plants, such as these South American maize varieties, were domesticated over a surprisingly long period across a broad geographic area after a partly domesticated form originated in Mexico around 9,000 years ago, a new genetic analysis concludes.
Fabio de Oliveira Freitas
SCALY SCIENCE Nine-banded armadillos have their offspring four at a time, each genetically identical. But scientists now know that identical DNA isn’t everything.
Heiko Kiera/shutterstock
BRAIN BUILDUP Amyloid-beta (illustrated in brown) from vials of contaminated growth hormone spread in the brains of mice, researchers found.
National Institute on Aging/NIH
