Life

Sign up for our newsletter

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Life

  1. Health & Medicine

    A blood test for dementia may tell you if you have more than one type

    AI helped researchers develop an experimental blood test that might let doctors diagnose overlapping dementias.

    By
  2. Animals

    Songs prep the brains of finches yet to hatch for a hot world

    Adult finches make "heat calls" as the temperature rises. Exposure to the song prepares their unhatched young's brains for the heat.

    By
  3. Health & Medicine

    Measles has no treatments. Changing that may not be easy

    Vaccination remains the priority, but some researchers are looking for drugs to fight the virus in people who don't get the shot.

    By
  4. Earth

    Earth’s stratosphere is a mysterious superhighway for microbes

    Well-known microbes that grow on our crops, our gardens, even our skin have been found thriving at two to three times the flying height of a commercial jetliner.

    By
  5. Health & Medicine

    Engineered hookworms could one day dispense drugs from inside your gut

    In a first, researchers genetically modified hookworms. It’s a step toward turning the parasites into living pharmacies.

    By
  6. Paleontology

    Frozen squirrel poop hints at sights and smells of Ice Age ecosystems

    DNA preserved in ancient scat reveals what Yukon ground squirrels ate and what animals shared their world.

    By
  7. Animals

    These birds clack their wing bones together to woo mates at night

    During courtship, male scissor-tailed nightjars crack their wings together to make a sharp snapping sound. It's the result of colliding arm bones.

    By
  8. Paleontology

    Some pterosaurs may have boasted bold iridescence

    A new analysis of a 120-million-year-old fossil suggests at least one pterosaur species shimmered in iridescent greens and magentas.

    By
  9. Animals

    Honeybees and shrimp are now getting vaccinated

    A shrimp vaccine for commercial use could protect the environment and prove vaccines aren’t just for vertebrates.

    By