Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
Genes could record forensic clues to time of death
Scientists have found predictable patterns in the way our genetic machinery winds down after death.
- Animals
Even after bedbugs are eradicated, their waste lingers
Bedbug waste contains high levels of the allergy-triggering chemical histamine, which stays behind even after the insects are eradicated.
- Plants
Ancient ozone holes may have sterilized forests 252 million years ago
Swaths of barren forest may have led to Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
- Animals
Trove of hummingbird flight data reveals secrets of nimble flying
Tweaks in muscle and wing form give different hummingbird species varying levels of agility.
- Neuroscience
The wiring for walking developed long before fish left the sea
These strange walking fish might teach us about the evolutionary origins of our own ability to walk.
- Neuroscience
Watch nerve cells being born in the brains of living mice
For the first time, scientists have seen nerve cells being born in the brains of adult mice.
- Ecosystems
Humans are overloading the world’s freshwater bodies with phosphorus
Human activities are driving phosphorus levels in the world’s lakes and other freshwater bodies to a critical point.
- Animals
It’s a bad idea for a toad to swallow a bombardier beetle
Toads are tough. But there are some insects even they shouldn’t swallow.
- Paleontology
This ancient creature looks like a spider with a tail
A newly discovered ancient creature looks like a spider and has silk spinners and spidery male sex organs.
- Plants
Pollinators are usually safe from a Venus flytrap
A first-ever look at what pollinates the carnivorous Venus flytrap finds little overlap between pollinators and prey.
- Neuroscience
A blood test could predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
A blood test can predict the presence of an Alzheimer’s-related protein in the brain.
- Animals
A peek into polar bears’ lives reveals revved-up metabolisms
Polar bears have higher metabolisms than scientists thought. In a world with declining Arctic sea ice, that could spell trouble.
