Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Hybrids reveal the barriers to successful mating between species
Scientists don’t understand the process of speciation, but hybrids can reveal the genes that keep species apart.
- Animals
Scary as they are, few vampires have a backbone
Researchers speculate on why there are so few vampires among vertebrates.
- Animals
Here’s the real story on jellyfish taking over the world
In 'Spineless,' a former marine scientist reconnects with the seas and science through her obsession with these enigmatic creatures.
- Paleontology
New dinosaur sported a curious set of chompers
Matheronodon provincialis, a newly described dinosaur, munched on tough plants with big scissors for teeth.
- Animals
Climate change may threaten these bamboo-eating lemurs
Longer dry spells and more nutrient-poor bamboo might eventually doom the greater bamboo lemur, a critically endangered species.
- Climate
As ice retreats, frozen mosses emerge to tell climate change tale
Plants long entombed beneath Canadian ice are now emerging, telling a story of warming unprecedented in the history of human civilization.
- Paleontology
T. rex’s silly-looking arms were built for slashing
Tyrannosaurus rex may have used its small arms for slashing prey.
- Genetics
New CRISPR gene editors can fix RNA and DNA one typo at a time
New gene editors can correct common typos that lead to disease.
- Life
Nanoscale glitches let flowers make a blue blur that bees can see
Bees learn about colorful floral rings faster when nanoscale arrays aren’t quite perfect.
- Life
A new material may one day keep mussels off piers and boat hulls
Mussels don’t stick to a new lubricant-infused silicone material.
- Genetics
Inbreeding hurts the next generation’s reproductive success
Inbreeding has evolutionary consequences for humans.
- Genetics
Mating with Neandertals reintroduced ‘lost’ DNA into modern humans
Neandertal DNA brought back some old genetic heirlooms to modern humans.
