Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Teens born from assisted pregnancies may have higher blood pressure

    Kids born from reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization are susceptible to high blood pressure as adolescents, a small study finds.

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  2. Animals

    A gentoo penguin’s dinner knows how to fight back

    Cameras attached to gentoo penguins off the Falkland Islands revealed that, despite the birds’ small size, their lobster krill prey can sometimes win in a fight.

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  3. Climate

    As temperatures rise, so do insects’ appetites for corn, rice and wheat

    Hotter, hungrier pests likely to do 10 percent to 25 percent more damage to grains for each warmer degree.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Newfound skull tunnels may speed immune cells’ trek to brain injuries

    Minuscule channels connect the skull to the brain’s outer membrane, studies in mice and people show.

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  5. Life

    How the poppy got its pain-relieving powers

    Analyzing the poppy’s genome reveals the evolutionary history of morphine.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    CRISPR gene editing relieves muscular dystrophy symptoms in dogs

    Scientists have used CRISPR’s molecular scissors in beagle puppies to repair a genetic mutation that causes muscular dystrophy.

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  7. Animals

    Naked mole-rats eat the poop of their queen for parenting cues

    Hormones in the naked mole-rat queen’s poop turn subordinate nest-mates into surrogate parents.

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  8. Animals

    There’s method in a firefly’s flashes

    Fireflies use their flashing lights for mating and maybe even to ward away predators.

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  9. Life

    We may now know when hand, foot and mouth disease outbreaks will occur

    Birthrates and immunity rates predict the spread of viruses that cause hand, foot and mouth disease.

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  10. Neuroscience

    How antibodies attack the brain and muddle memory

    Human antibodies that target key brain proteins cause memory trouble when delivered into mice’s brains.

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  11. Humans

    Meet the first known child of a Neandertal and a Denisovan

    DNA analysis of a bone fragment reveals Neandertal movements between Siberia and western Europe.

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  12. Anthropology

    A fossil mistaken for a bat may shake up lemurs’ evolutionary history

    On Madagascar, a type of lemur called aye-ayes may have a singular evolutionary history.

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