Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Anthropology

    ‘Dragon Man’ skull may be the first from an enigmatic human cousin

    Ancient proteins and DNA may peg a 146,000-year-old Chinese skull as the most complete fossil to date from Denisovans, a puzzling line of Asian hominids.

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  2. Animals

    This moth species may use the Milky Way as its guiding star

    Bogong moths migrate up to 1,000 kilometers from Australian plains to mountain caves to escape the summer heat. The stars may help them get there.

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  3. Science & Society

    How attacks on evolution in classrooms have shifted over the last 100 years

    Since the Scopes trial in 1925, Science News has reported on legislative attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution.

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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. 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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  9. Animals

    Preemptively cutting rhinos’ horns cuts poaching

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

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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12. 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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