Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Women have a new weapon against postpartum depression, but it’s costly
The newly approved drug brexanolone simulates a natural hormone to alleviate symptoms of postpartum depression.
- Paleontology
Newfound fossils in China highlight a dizzying diversity of Cambrian life
A new treasure trove of Cambrian fossils in China dating to 518 million years ago could rival Canada’s Burgess Shale.
- Health & Medicine
A new ketamine-based antidepressant raises hope — and questions
Little is known about the long-term effects on people of a newly approved antidepressant based on the anesthetic ketamine.
- Paleontology
In a first, a fossilized egg is found preserved inside an ancient bird
Scientists have found the first known fossil of a bird that died with an unlaid egg inside its body. The egg has been crushed by pressure over time.
- Animals
How a tiger transforms into a man-eater
‘No Beast So Fierce’ examines the historical and environmental factors that turned a tiger in Nepal and India into a human-killer.
- Neuroscience
People can sense Earth’s magnetic field, brain waves suggest
An analysis of brain waves offers new evidence that people subconsciously process information about the planet’s magnetism.
- Animals
Meet India’s starry dwarf frog — a species with no close relatives
The newly identified starry dwarf frog represents a new species, genus and potentially even a new family.
- Genetics
Resurrecting woolly mammoth cells is hard to do
Japanese scientists say some proteins in frozen mammoth cells may still work after 28,000 years. But that activity may be more mouse than mammoth.
- Animals
‘Epic Yellowstone’ captures the thriving ecosystem of the world-famous park
A new documentary series about Yellowstone displays the dynamic, dramatic and exciting ecosystem that thrives within the park’s gates.
- Life
Some shrimp make plasma with their claws. Now a 3-D printed claw can too
Scientists used a replica of a shrimp claw to re-create the extreme pressures and temperatures that the animals produce underwater.
- Paleontology
A new T. rex exhibit takes a deep dive into the iconic dinosaur
“T. rex: The Ultimate Predator,” a new exhibit in New York City, draws on the latest science to provide a fresh look at Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives.
- Health & Medicine
Flickers and buzzes sweep mouse brains of Alzheimer’s plaques
Precisely timed clicking noises can counter signs of Alzheimer’s in the brains of mice and improve memory.
