Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Life

    Cracking the body clock code wins trio a Nobel Prize

    Circadian clock researchers take home the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

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  2. Life

    Body clock mechanics wins U.S. trio the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine

    The cellular mechanisms governing circadian rhythms was a Nobel Prize‒winning discover for three Americans.

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  3. Oceans

    Castaway critters rafted to U.S. shores aboard Japan tsunami debris

    Researchers report finding 289 living Japanese marine species that washed up on American shores on debris from the 2011 East Japan earthquake and tsunami.

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  4. Genetics

    A mutation may explain the sudden rise in birth defects from Zika

    A mutation in a protein that helps Zika exit cells may play a big role in microcephaly.

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  5. Climate

    Tropical forests have flipped from sponges to sources of carbon dioxide

    Analyses of satellite images suggest that degraded forests now release more carbon than they store.

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  6. Genetics

    Ancient boy’s DNA pushes back date of earliest humans

    Genes from South African fossils suggest humans emerged close to 300,000 years ago.

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  7. Animals

    Bedbugs may be into dirty laundry

    When humans aren’t around, bedbugs go for the next best thing: smelly human laundry.

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  8. Paleontology

    Saber-toothed kittens were born armed to pounce

    Even as babies, saber-toothed cats had not only oversized canine teeth but also unusually powerful forelimbs.

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  9. Paleontology

    This giant marsupial was a seasonal migrant

    The giant, extinct marsupial Diprotodon optatum migrated seasonally, the first marsupial shown to do so.

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  10. Paleontology

    This giant marsupial was a seasonal migrant

    A new analysis suggests that Diprotodon optatum, a giant plant-eating marsupial that went extinct about 40,000 years ago, migrated long distances, much like today’s zebras and wildebeests.

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  11. Animals

    To test sleep, researchers don’t let sleeping jellyfish lie

    Upside-down jellyfish are the first known animals without a brain to enter a sleeplike state.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    From day one, a frog’s developing brain is calling the shots

    Frog brains help organize muscle and nerve patterns early in development.

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