Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Life

  1. Earth

    Recycled glass could help fend off coastal erosion

    Sand made from recycled glass can be mixed with sediment to make a medium for plants to grow in. That can help with coastal restoration projects.

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  2. Physics

    Scientists made a biological quantum bit out of a fluorescent protein

    Researchers could use quantum effects to develop new types of medical imaging inside cells themselves.

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  3. Humans

    Want to avoid mosquito bites? Step away from the beer

    A Dutch music festival turned into a mosquito lab, revealing how beer, weed, sleep and sunscreen affect your bite appeal.

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  4. Animals

    Octopus arms are adaptable but some are favored for particular jobs

    Octopuses are ambidextrous, a new study finds, but they favor their front arms for investigating surroundings and their back arms for locomotion.

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  5. Paleontology

    Crystallized dino eggs provide a peek into the tumultuous Late Cretaceous

    Definitively dating the age of a clutch of fossil dinosaur eggs at a famous site in China may let scientists link eggshell features to environmental shifts at the time.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    The brain preserves maps of missing hands for years

    Countering the idea of large-scale rewiring, women whose hands were removed retained durable brain activity patterns linked to their missing fingers.

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  7. Neuroscience

    Your red is my red, at least to our brains

    Despite philosophical debates, colors like red may spark similar brain activity across individuals, new research suggests.

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  8. Animals

    Just like humans, many animals get more aggressive in the heat

    From salamanders to monkeys, many species get more violent at warmer temperatures — a trend that may shape their social structures as the world warms.

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  9. Paleontology

    Young pterosaurs probably died in violent Jurassic storms

    Two hatchling pterosaurs with fractured arm bones point to ancient storms as the cause of mass casualties preserved in Germany’s Solnhofen Limestone.

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