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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    Fewer scavengers could mean more zoonotic disease

    Scavenger populations are decreasing, a new study shows. That could put human health at risk.

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  2. Humans

    100 years after the Scopes trial, science is still under attack

    In 1925, John Scopes was indicted for teaching evolution. Science News looks at the forces that led to the trial and how expertise was the big loser.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    A genetic test may predict which weight loss drugs work best for patients

    Variants of obesity-related genes influence how much weight patients lose on specific weight loss drugs like liraglutide, two studies report.

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  4. Animals

    This spider’s barf is worse than its bite

    Most spider species subdue dinner by injecting venom from their fangs. Feather-legged lace weavers swathe prey in silk, then upchuck a killing brew.

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  5. Neuroscience

    At early ages, autism in girls and boys looks similar

    A new study of more than 2,500 children under 5 found little difference in autism symptoms between boys and girls.

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  6. Animals

    Preemptively cutting rhinos’ horns cuts poaching

    Comparing various tactics for protecting rhinos suggests that dehorning them drastically reduces poaching.

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  7. Animals

    Probiotics helped great star corals fend off a deadly disease

    A probiotic paste prevented the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease, but the treatment is still a proof-of-concept, not a cure.

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  8. Animals

    Flamingos create precise water vortices in a shrimp-hunting frenzy

    Nashville Zoo flamingos reveal the oddball birds generate many types of vortices to eat. The swirls could be an inspiration to human engineers.

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  9. Plants

    Trees ‘remember’ times of water abundance and scarcity

    Spruce trees that experienced long-term droughts were more resistant to future ones, while pines acclimatized to wet periods were more vulnerable.

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  10. Animals

    Aussie cockatoos use their beaks and claws to turn on water fountains

    Parrots living in Sydney have learned how to turn on water fountains for a drink. It's the first such drinking strategy seen in the birds.

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  11. Animals

    How luna moths grow extravagant wings

    Warm temperatures, not just predator pressure, may favor luna moths’ long bat-fooling streamers, a geographic analysis of iNaturalist pics shows.

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  12. Animals

    Genetics might save the rare, elusive saola — if it’s not already extinct

    A new genetic study could help saolas survive by enabling better searches through environmental DNA. But some experts fear they may be extinct already.

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