Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Environment
Plastic pollution increases risk of devastating disease in corals
Researchers estimate about 11 billion pieces of plastic are polluting Asia-Pacific corals, raising the risk of disease at scores of reefs.
- Genetics
Scientists find 10 new defense systems used by bacteria
Scientists identify 10 groups of genes that appear to govern defense systems used by bacteria against virus attacks.
- Science & Society
Memory remains elusive, but the search continues
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill explores the history of memory and scientists' search for its physical trace in our brains.
- Genetics
Baby macaques are the first primates to be cloned like Dolly the Sheep
Scientists have cloned two baby macaque monkeys with the same technique used to clone Dolly. The research could help advance the cloning of other species.
- Neuroscience
Somewhere in the brain is a storage device for memories
New technology and new ideas spur the hunt for the physical basis of memory.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s the key ingredient that lets a centipede’s bite take down prey
A newly identified “spooky toxin” launches a broad attack but might be eased with a version of a known drug.
- Health & Medicine
New twist on a flu vaccine revs up the body’s army of virus killers
A new approach to flu vaccine development makes influenza virus extra sensitive to a powerful antiviral system.
- Neuroscience
Cilia in the brain may be busier than previously thought
A hairlike appendage sticking out of brain cells may be much more important in the brain than scientists realized.
- Life
Light pollution can prolong the risk of sparrows passing along West Nile virus
Nighttime lighting prolongs time that birds can pass along virus to mosquitoes that bite people.
- Microbes
The secret to icky, sticky bacterial biofilms lies in the microbes’ cellulose
Bacteria use a modified form of cellulose to form sticky networks that can coat various surfaces.
- Life
A robotic arm made of DNA moves at dizzying speed
A DNA machine with a high-speed arm could pave the way for nanoscale factories.
- Anthropology
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle could help explain superior ability to ID smells
Hunter-gatherers in the forests of the Malay Peninsula prove more adept at naming smells than their rice-farming neighbors, possibly because of their foraging culture.
