Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Two primate lineages crossed the Atlantic millions of years ago
Peruvian primate fossils point to a second ocean crossing by a now-extinct group roughly 35 million to 32 million years ago.
- Animals
Hitchhiking oxpeckers warn endangered rhinos when people are nearby
Red-billed oxpeckers do more than just eat parasites from rhinos’ backs. The birds can alert the hunted mammals to potential danger, a study finds.
- Environment
A year long expedition spotlights night life in the Arctic winter
Scientists anchored to an ice floe near the North Pole are investigating how life survives polar night and what changes will occur as the Arctic continues to warm.
- Life
The Great Barrier Reef is suffering its most widespread bleaching ever recorded
Major bleaching events are recurring with increasing frequency on the Great Barrier Reef, hindering its recovery.
- Genetics
The PBS documentary ‘The Gene’ showcases genetics’ promise and pitfalls
A film from executive producer Ken Burns delivers an unfiltered history of genetics, showing how the science has helped and hurt people.
- Life
Algae use flagella to trot, gallop and move with gaits all their own
Single-celled microalgae, with no brains, can coordinate their “limbs” into a trot or fancier gait.
- Chemistry
Beets bleed red but a chemistry tweak can create a blue hue
A new blue dye derived from beet juice might prove an alternative to synthetic blue dyes in foods, cosmetics or fabrics.
- Neuroscience
Mice’s facial expressions can reveal a wide range of emotions
Pleasure, pain, fear and other feelings can be reflected in mice’s faces, sophisticated computational analyses show.
- Animals
A cat appears to have caught the coronavirus, but it’s complicated
While a cat in Belgium seems to be the first feline infected with SARS-CoV-2, it’s still unclear how susceptible pets are to the disease.
- Animals
Parasitic worm populations are skyrocketing in some fish species used in sushi
Fishes worldwide harbor 283 times the number of Anisakis worms as fishes in the 1970s. Whether that’s a sign of environmental decline or recovery is unclear.
- Health & Medicine
There’s no evidence the coronavirus jumped from pangolins to people
Pangolins captured in anti-smuggling activities in southern China were found to harbor viruses related to the new coronavirus.
- Paleontology
Fossils of a new dromaeosaur date to the end of the Age of Dinosaurs
Fossils from a new dromaeosaur recovered from New Mexico suggest these fierce predators were diversifying up to the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.
