Animals
Here’s how honeyeaters and other birds thrive on sugary diets
Birds that feed on nectar or fruit evolved better mechanisms for managing metabolism, blood pressure and high glucose.
Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
More Stories in Life
- Animals
Keeping a beat wins caterpillars friends in low places
Finding a caterpillar with rhythm was “mind-blowing,” suggesting it might be a more widespread part of animal communication than thought.
- Life
An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox
Fecal analyses and necropsies suggest a fire-footed rope squirrel was the source of a 2023 mpox outbreak among sooty mangabeys in Côte d’Ivoire.
- Animals
Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders ensnare prey in webs
Rufous net-casting spiders can tune the stiffness and elasticity of their webs thanks to loops of silk, scanning electron microscope images reveal.
- Health & Medicine
A lab on wheels is tracking HIV spread in war-torn Ukraine
During a test drive, the mobile lab van uncovered a drug-resistant HIV strain that sprung up after the ongoing war with Russia started.
- Genetics
Wanderlust may be written in our DNA
A new study suggests that inherited traits explain a small but measurable share of why some people relocate far from where they were born.
- Health & Medicine
This itch-triggering protein also sends signals to stop scratching
The TRPV4 protein’s dual nature, found in studies with mice, may complicate the hunt for human itch treatments
- Paleontology
A mouth built for efficiency may have helped the earliest bird fly
A flexible tongue, sensitive beak and teethlike cones in the mouth may have helped Archaeopteryx generate enough energy to fly.
- Animals
Some dog breeds carry a higher risk of breathing problems
Research reveals more short-snouted dogs besides pugs and bulldogs that struggle with breathing. Pekingese and Japanese Chins topped the study's list.
- Animals
Regeneration of fins and limbs relies on a shared cellular playbook
The findings strengthen the case that regeneration is an old trait, offering insights into how complex tissues rebuild themselves.
