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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Neuroscience

    Today’s depression treatments don’t help everyone

    In the second story in the series, deep brain stimulation is a last resort for some people with depression.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    There’s a stigma around brain implants and other depression treatments

    The fifth article in the series asks why people are so uncomfortable with changing the brain.

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  3. Animals

    A little snake’s big gulp may put all other snakes to shame

    The humble Gans’ egg-eater can wrap its mouth around bigger prey than any other snake of its size.

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  4. Earth

    Wildfires aren’t going away. Here’s how smoke can affect your health

    How does repeat exposure to wildfire smoke affect our health? Three experts weigh in on the massive air pollution fueled by Canada’s ongoing fires.

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  5. Physics

    Electrons are extremely round, a new measurement confirms

    The near-perfect roundness deepens the mystery behind how the universe came to be filled with matter as opposed to antimatter.

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  6. Astronomy

    Weird black holes may hold secrets of the early universe

    Big black holes in little galaxies, rogue black holes and other behemoths could offer clues to cosmic evolution.

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  7. Animals

    Octopuses and squid are masters of RNA editing while leaving DNA intact

    Modifications to RNA could explain the intelligence and flexibility of shell-less cephalopods.

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  8. Neuroscience

    Neuroscientists decoded people’s thoughts using brain scans

    The finding may lead to better communication aids for people who can’t communicate easily. It also raises privacy concerns.

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  9. Animals

    This elephant peels bananas, but only slightly ripe ones

    Pang Pha, an Asian elephant at Zoo Berlin, probably picked up the skill by observing her zookeeper.

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  10. Earth

    A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life

    A subglacial river has carved out the cavern beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, and may be supplying nutrients necessary for life.

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  11. Math

    Dense crowds of pedestrians shift into surprisingly orderly lines. Math explains why

    New research into collective behavior adds to decades of study on the wisdom of crowds.

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  12. Animals

    These transparent fish turn rainbow with white light. Now, we know why

    Repeated structures in the ghost catfish’s muscles separate white light that passes through their bodies into different wavelengths.

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