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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Work on protein structure and design wins the 2024 chemistry Nobel
David Baker figured out how to build entirely new proteins. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper developed an AI tool to predict protein structures.
- Neuroscience
Semaglutide saps mice’s motivation to run
Mice given semaglutide, the key ingredient in drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, lost weight, but they also voluntarily ran less on a wheel.
- Animals
These sea creatures can fuse their bodies
A species of comb jelly can fuse its body with another jelly after injury. Some of the pair’s body functions then synchronize.
- Psychology
A brain network linked to attention is larger in people with depression
Brain scans revealed that teenagers with larger attention-driving networks were more likely to develop depression.
- Life
This biophysicist’s work could one day let doctors control immune cells
The Stanford biophysicist thinks that understanding the mechanics of cell movement could allow scientists to manipulate immune cells.
- Particle Physics
A neutrino mass mismatch could shake cosmology’s foundations
Cosmological data suggest unexpected masses for neutrinos, including the possibility of zero or negative mass.
- Animals
Ants changed the architecture of their nests when exposed to a pathogen
Black garden ants made tweaks to entrances, tunnels and chambers that may help prevent diseases from spreading.
- Space
2 spacecraft caught the waves that might heat and accelerate the solar wind
Data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter might have cracked an enduring solar riddle. But not everyone yet agrees.
- Animals
Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate
For some, it’s the stuff of nightmares. But a grad student’s serendipitous cell phone video might resolve a long-running debate over leech acrobatics.
