Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Ecosystems
Fewer worms live in mud littered with lots of microplastics
The environmental effects of microplastic pollution are still hazy, but new long-term, outdoor experiments could help clear matters up.
- Life
Engineered honeybee gut bacteria trick attackers into self-destructing
Tailored microbes defend bees with a gene-silencing process called RNA interference that takes on viruses or mites.
- Genetics
A new genetic analysis reveals that modern Africans have some Neandertal DNA too
Humans migrating back to Africa brought genetic material from humans’ extinct Neandertal relatives along for the ride.
- Life
How pandas use their heads as a kind of extra limb for climbing
Short legs on a stout bear body means pandas use a rare technique to climb up a tree.
- Neuroscience
Psilocybin may help cancer patients with depression and anxiety for years
A study hints that a hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms could reshape how people cope with hard diagnoses over the long term.
- Archaeology
A Siberian cave contains clues about two epic Neandertal treks
Stone tools and DNA illuminate an earlier and a later journey eastward across Asia.
- Paleontology
A squid fossil offers a rare record of pterosaur feeding behavior
150 million years ago, a pterosaur attempted to snatch a squid from the ocean surface and lost a tooth in the process.
- Health & Medicine
How one woman became the exception to her family’s Alzheimer’s history
A single mutation in a woman who evaded Alzheimer’s may point to new ways to treat the disease.
- Life
Sparkly exoskeletons may help camouflage beetles from predators
Iridescence, normally thought to help insects stand out, can also camouflage beetles from predators, according to new experimental evidence.
- Genetics
Ancient kids’ DNA reveals new insights into how Africa was populated
Four long-dead youngsters from west-central Africa have opened a window on humankind’s far-flung African origins.
- Animals
Collectors find plenty of bees but far fewer species than in the 1950s
An analysis of global insect collections points to a major collapse in bee diversity since the 1990s.
- Life
How bacteria create flower art
Different types of microbes growing in lab dishes can push each other to make floral patterns.
