Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Peruvian fossils yield a four-legged otterlike whale with hooves
A newly discovered species of ancient whale unearthed in Peru split time between land and sea.
- Health & Medicine
Testing mosquito pee could help track the spread of diseases
A new way to monitor the viruses that wild mosquitoes are spreading passes its first outdoor test.
- Life
50 years ago, scientists were unlocking the secrets of bacteria-infecting viruses
In 1969, a bacteria-infecting virus held promise for unlocking the secrets of viral replication. Fifty years later, the virus is a versatile tool for scientists.
- Life
How emus and ostriches lost the ability to fly
Changes in regulatory DNA, rather than mutations to genes themselves, grounded some birds, a study finds.
- Animals
Cats recognize their own names
A new study suggests that cats can tell their names apart from other spoken words.
- Plants
A major crop pest can make tomato plants lie to their neighbors
Insects called silverleaf whiteflies exploit tomatoes’ ability to detect damage caused to nearby plants.
- Animals
Tiny pumpkin toadlets have glowing bony plates on their backs
Pumpkin toadlets are the first frogs found to have fluorescent bony plates that are visible through their skin under ultraviolet light.
- Paleontology
New fossils may capture the minutes after the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact
North Dakota fossils may depict the aftermath of the dinosaur-killing asteroid, but controversial claims about the breadth of the find are unproven.
- Genetics
A Nobel Prize winner argues banning CRISPR babies won’t work
Human gene editing needs responsible regulation, but a ban isn’t the way to go, says Nobel laureate David Baltimore.
- Health & Medicine
In ‘The Perfect Predator,’ viruses vanquish a deadly superbug
In ‘The Perfect Predator,’ an epidemiologist recounts the battle to save her husband from an antibiotic-resistant infection.
- Animals
Watch a desert kangaroo rat drop-kick a rattlesnake
Desert kangaroo rats have a wide arsenal for dodging rattlesnake ambushes. But the most dramatic might be their powerful midair kick.
- Animals
Chytrid’s frog-killing toll has been tallied — and it’s bad
Losses due to the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus are “the greatest documented loss of biodiversity attributable to a pathogen,” researchers find.
