Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Life

  1. Health & Medicine

    Personalized gene editing saved a baby, but the tech’s future is uncertain

    The personalized CRISPR treatment could be the future of gene therapy, but hurdles remain before everyone has access.

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  2. Neuroscience

    ‘Silent’ cells play a surprising role in how brains work

    New studies show that astrocytes, long thought to be support cells in the brain, are crucial intermediaries for relaying messages to neurons.

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  3. Animals

    Bedbugs may have been one of the first urban pests

    Common bedbugs experienced a dramatic jump in population size about 13,000 years ago, around the time humans congregated in the first cities.

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  4. Life

    The first cicada concert was 47 million years ago

    A 47-million-year-old cicada fossil from Germany’s Messel Pit could teach us about the evolution of insect communication.

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  5. Paleontology

    Sloths once came in a dizzying array of sizes. Here’s why

    A new fossil and DNA analysis traces how dozens of sloth species responded to climate shifts and humans. Just two small tree-dwelling sloths remain today.

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  6. Climate

    Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost

    Penguin poop provides ammonia for cloud formation in coastal Antarctica, potentially helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region.

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  7. Animals

    Juvenile capuchins are kidnapping infants of another monkey species

    Over 15 months on Jicarón Island, researchers saw five capuchin juveniles abduct 11 endangered howler monkey infants — all for no clear purpose.

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  8. Animals

    A ‘talking’ ape’s death signals the end of an era

    Kanzi showed apes have the capacity for language, but in recent years scientists have questioned the ethics of ape experiments.

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  9. Science & Society

    Some science seems silly, but it’s still worthwhile

    The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog contends that curiosity-driven research helps us understand the world and could lead to unexpected benefits.

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