Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
For gray whales, San Francisco Bay is becoming a deadly pit stop
Climate change could be forcing gray whales to seek food in San Francisco Bay, where vessel strikes may be driving rising deaths.
- Neuroscience
Seeing and imagining activate some of the same brain cells
By recording brain activity directly, scientists showed that imagining an object can revive parts of the neural pattern used to see it.
- Paleontology
Mummified reptile hints at the origins of how we breathe
A cave preserved two animals’ rib cages, cartilage and even traces of protein, revealing a flexible breathing apparatus like that of today’s land dwellers.
- Paleontology
The ‘oldest fossil octopus’ is probably another animal
In 2000, researchers thought they found the oldest fossil octopus, which lived over 300 million years ago. But it may just be a half-rotten nautilus.
- Animals
A new book finds parenting inspiration in the animal kingdom
In The Creatures’ Guide to Caring, science journalist Elizabeth Preston looks to the animal kingdom to explore what it means to be a good parent.
- Neuroscience
Human echolocation works step by step
Experts in echolocation use multiple clicks and echoes to sense objects, offering insight into how the brain builds perception.
- Health & Medicine
When our minds wander to the body, it may affect mental health
People’s minds sometimes wander to their bodily sensations, which may reduce symptoms of depression and ADHD, a new study suggests.
- Paleontology
Fossils reveal many complex animals existed before the Cambrian explosion
Hundreds of Chinese fossils from the dawn of animal evolution may change how scientists think of this critical period of prehistory.
- Animals
To climb trees, cicadas look to the shadows
Tree-climbing cicadas find their perches by looking for patches of darkness, a strategy known as skototaxis.
- Archaeology
The oldest known dice date back about 12,000 years in North America
A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
- Paleontology
A fossil reveals early relatives of spiders — armed with claws
A Utah fossil shows early relatives of spiders and scorpions already had distinctive front claws 500 million years ago.
- Animals
Secrets of the Bees zooms in on life in a hive
A new documentary available on Disney+ and Hulu appeals to our sense of wonder to highlight why bees need saving.
