Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
The unique neural wiring of the human hippocampus may maximize memory
Living tissue from the memory centers of people’s brains reveals sparse nerve cell connections that provide strong, reliable signaling between cells.
- Animals
American burying beetles are making a comeback in Nebraska
Thanks to decades of conservation to restore private grasslands, numbers of the threatened insect are on the rise in the Loess Canyons.
- Health & Medicine
The spread of breast cancer may be inherited
A variant of PCSK9, a gene involved in raising cholesterol, may spur metastasis. An approved antibody might stop it.
- Health & Medicine
Dogs team up with AI to sniff out cancer
Scientists paired Labrador retrievers with an AI model in a new screening test for breast, lung, colorectal or prostate cancer.
- Science & Society
These are the 5 most popular Science News stories of 2024
Science News drew millions of visitors to our website this year. Here’s a recap of the most-read and most-watched news stories of 2024.
- Life
These scientific feats set new records in 2024
Noteworthy findings include jumbo black hole jets, an ultrapetite frog, ancient asteroid remnants and more.
- Life
These are our favorite animal stories of 2024
Pigeons that do somersaults, snakes that fake death with extra flair and surprised canines are among the organisms that enthralled the Science News staff.
- Life
Sheep earwax can record a dangerous diet
Sheep that eat death camas plants record the toxic meal in their earwax, a goopy health data repository that researchers are increasingly exploring.
- Life
Here are 8 remarkable scientific firsts of 2024
Making panda stem cells, mapping a fruit fly’s brain and witnessing a black hole wake up were among the biggest achievements of the year.
- Neuroscience
The message-sending part of neurons may be blobby, not smooth
Axons can be shaped like strings of pearls, research in mice and people show. How that shape may influence brain signaling is not yet clear.
- Anthropology
Humans have linked emotions to the same body parts for 3,000 years
3,000-year-old clay tablets show that some associations between emotion and parts of the body have remained the same for millennia.
- Life
The ‘Blob,’ an unprecedented marine heat wave, killed 4 million seabirds
Millions of other animals may have perished too, suggesting the die-off event might be one of the worst in modern times.
