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Neuroscience

Highlights from Neuroscience 2012

A collection of reports from the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, New Orleans.

Genetics

Cloning-like method targets mitochondrial diseases

Providing healthy ‘power plants’ in donor egg cells appears feasible in humans, a new study finds.

Climate

Gulf Stream might be releasing seafloor methane

Greenhouse gas may be flowing into ocean waters off the U.S. east coast.

Paleontology

Earliest primate had tree-climber ankles

A creature known only from fossils of its teeth gets some more parts.

Chemistry

Human blood types have deep evolutionary roots

The ABO system may date back 20 million years or more, a genetic analysis suggests.

Life

Hind wings gave four-winged dino flight control

Much-debated rear wings could have given Microraptor extra help in airborne maneuvers.

Earth

Spanish quake linked to groundwater pumping

Draining aquifers likely triggered 2011 tremor that killed nine people.

Physics

To build a clock that ticks forever, you need a spacetime crystal blueprint

Humans

The man behind Sarcastic Rover

NASA’s newest rover, Curiosity, wasn’t alone on Mars for long.

Life

Fasting hormone helps mice live longer

A protein can trick the body into entering starvation mode.

Microbes

Protecting the planet

Catharine “Cassie” Conley has the coolest job title at NASA: She’s the agency’s planetary protection officer. (The best title used to be “director of the universe,” but a reconfiguration a few years back eliminated that job description, she says.)