Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Sea creatures’ sticky ‘mucus houses’ catch ocean carbon really fast
A new deepwater laser tool measures the carbon-filtering power of snot nets created by little-known sea animals called giant larvaceans.
- Animals
50 years ago, U.S. fell short on mosquito eradication
Researchers boldly predicted mosquitoes’ demise 50 years ago. They never came close.
- Neuroscience
A baby’s pain registers in the brain
EEG recordings can help indicate whether a newborn baby is in pain, a preliminary study suggests.
- Animals
Big dads carry weight among wandering albatrosses
For male albatrosses, bulking up impacts survival and reproduction.
- Health & Medicine
Readers concerned about cancer’s sugary disguise
Tricky cancer cells, brain-shaping smartphones, a cow-burying badger and more in reader feedback.
- Climate
Lakes worldwide feel the heat from climate change
Lakes worldwide are warming with consequences for every part of the food web, from algae, to walleye, to freshwater seals.
- Science & Society
Fox experiment is replaying domestication in fast-forward
How to Tame a Fox recounts a nearly 60-year experiment in Russia to domesticate silver foxes.
- Health & Medicine
Lungs enlist immune cells to fight infections in capillaries
Immune cells in the lungs provide a rapid counterattack to bloodstream infections, a new study in mice finds.
- Neuroscience
Nerve cell miswiring linked to depression
A gene helps nerve cell axons extend to parts of the brain to deliver serotonin, a brain chemical associated with depression.
- Climate
Ocean acidification may hamper food web’s nitrogen-fixing heroes
A new look at marine Trichodesmium microbes suggests trouble for nitrogen fixation in an acidifying ocean.
- Genetics
Ancient DNA bucks tale of how the horse was tamed
DNA from ancient horses reveals early domestication involved plenty of stallions.
- Life
How a mushroom gets its glow
For the first time, biologists have pinpointed the compound that lights up in fungal bioluminescence.
