Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Watch the first video of a sperm whale birth captured by scientists
In a sperm whale birth recorded in more intimate detail than ever before, local whales huddled around the mother and lifted the calf to the surface.
- Paleontology
Early apes may not have evolved in East Africa
Fossil jaw remains found in Egypt suggest that the earliest modern apes evolved in North Africa, not in East Africa where most fossils have been found.
- Animals
When were dogs domesticated? The oldest known dog DNA offers clues
Two new studies suggest that genetically stable dogs were living among humans in Europe by about 14,000 years ago.
- Neuroscience
Clumps of mouse brain cells can learn to play a virtual game
Sure, playing video game is fun. But the ability of tiny brain organoids to pick up a skill could provide insight into how healthy brains work.
- Physics
These insects fly with their legs. Physics explains how
Phantom crane flies change the angle of their splayed legs to increase or reduce drag, helping them navigate varying winds.
- Animals
Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males
Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.
- Space
How realistic is Project Hail Mary?
Ryan Gosling is on a mission to save the sun — and Earth — from star-killing microbes. Science News dissects the science behind the sci-fi movie.
- Plants
Check out 6 ways orchids use tricks to reproduce
This spring, these six orchids will lure pollinators with mimicry, scent or other unusual strategies.
- Animals
Mosquitoes get the ‘I’m full’ signal from their butts, not their brains
Mosquitoes stop feeding because signals from rectal cells tell them they’re full, offering a target for preventing human bites.
- Microbes
How warming is shifting microbial worlds
Climate change is affecting microbes, and that has implications for all life on Earth.
- Animals
Sharks are ingesting drugs in the Bahamas
Nearly one third of sharks studied near the Bahamas’ Eleuthera Island were found to have caffeine, painkillers and other drugs in their bloodstreams.
- Animals
Platypus fur has a surprising feature seen only in bird feathers
Platypuses are the first mammals known to have hollow melanosomes, pigment-bearing structures found in the hair of many animals.
