Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
The brain’s response to a heart attack may worsen recovery
In mice, blocking heart-to-brain signals improved healing after a heart attack, hinting at new targets for cardiac therapy.
- Animals
Spider silk-making organs evolved due to a 400-million-year-old genetic oops
An ancient ancestor of spiders and relatives doubled its genome about 400 million years ago, setting the stage for the evolution of spinnerets.
- Animals
Some vaccines are making progress in protecting vulnerable species
Vaccines can be a crucial conservation tool. But getting shots to wildlife, and developing them in the first place, is tough.
- Animals
How Greenland sharks defy aging
When it comes to bucking the biological ails of aging, humans could learn something from Greenland sharks.
- Health & Medicine
It masquerades as malignant. But this bone-covered tumor is benign
Scientists have described a novel, yet benign bone-covered growth's characteristics for doctors, so patients don't receive unnecessary chemotherapy.
- Neuroscience
A spot in the base of the brain has a love of language
Brain scans show a spot in the cerebellum attuned specifically to words, expanding on studies that point to the region's importance for language.
- Animals
Animals experience joy. Scientists want to measure it
Scientists have long focused on quantifying fear and other negative emotions in animals. Now they’re trying to measure positive feelings — and it’s a challenge.
- Life
There’s life beneath the snow, but it’s at risk of melting away
An array of animals and plants survive winter in the subnivium, nature’s igloo. But climate change is threatening this hidden seasonal ecosystem.
- Plants
'In Botanical Time' explores the ways Earth’s oldest plants cheat death
Author Christopher Woods unpacks the science behind ancient plants’ longevity in a new book.
- Animals
This tool-using cow defies expectations for bovine braininess
Veronika the cow uses a brush as a tool to scratch herself, revealing rare problem-solving skills and expanding what we know of tool use in animals.
- Animals
This fish may play a hole in its head like a drum
The rockhead poacher is a little fish with a big pit in its head. The divot may be like a drum, making sound that rises above a chaotic, nearshore din.
- Animals
Animal personalities can play a big role in saving species
From bold foxes to gregarious birds, animals’ personalities are increasingly being seen as crucial to conservation efforts.
