News in Brief
- Neuroscience
High-fat diet’s negative effect on memory may fade
Brain may find way to compensate for memory impairments linked to high-fat diets, study in rats shows.
- Paleontology
300 million-year-old giant shark swam the Texas seas
Fossil find shows oldest known ‘supershark,’ about the size of a limo, prowled the ocean 300 million years ago.
- Neuroscience
Multitaskers do worse on tasks that require focus
Multitasking is more likely to impair teens’ focusing ability than improve it, study testing attention skills finds.
- Life
Genetic tweaks manipulate DNA’s loops
Scientists have changed the loops and curls of DNA as it packs into a nucleus.
- Earth
4.1-billion-year-old crystal may hold earliest signs of life
New evidence suggests that life on Earth arose before 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years earlier than previous estimates.
- Humans
U.S. is growing more genetically diverse
Young Americans are more genetically diverse than previous generations, a new DNA analysis reveals.
- Genetics
Microbes may reveal colon cancer mutations
Certain microbial mixes are associated with particular DNA mutations in colon cancer, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer drug’s effectiveness overinflated in animal studies
Claims about the cancer drug sunitinib are overblown because of poorly designed studies and negative results that were never published, a new analysis suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Sperm protein may offer target for male contraceptive
With the identification of a new sperm protein that helps sperm penetrate eggs, researchers may be closer to developing birth control pills for men.
- Life
Babies low on key gut bacteria at higher risk of asthma
Asthma risk may be set early in life, but mice data suggest that the risk could altered by friendly gut bacteria.
- Planetary Science
Salt streaks point to present-day water flows on Mars
Salt deposits on Mars hint at contemporary seasonal water flows on the Red Planet.
- Anthropology
Ancient hominid ears were tuned to high frequencies
Two ancient hominid species may have heard high-frequency sounds especially well.
