Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Hot and spicy pain signals get blocked in naked mole-rats
Naked mole-rats have a protein that interrupts pain signal.
- Life
Ocean archaea more vulnerable to deep-sea viruses than bacteria
Deep-sea viruses kill archaea disproportionately more often than bacteria, a killing spree with important impacts on the global carbon cycle.
- Paleontology
Birds’ honks filled Late Cretaceous air
Oldest avian voice box fossil yet discovered belonged to a ducklike bird that lived during the age of the dinosaurs.
- Animals
Painted lady butterflies’ migration may take them across the Sahara
The migratory patterns of painted lady butterflies are largely unknown. Now scientists have found evidence that some may migrate across the Sahara.
- Animals
African elephants walk on their tippy-toes
Pressure plates reveal how African elephants load their feet when they walk, providing clues to pachyderm podiatry problems.
- Animals
African elephants walk on their tippy-toes
Pressure plates reveal how African elephants load their feet when they walk, providing clues to pachyderm podiatry problems.
- Cosmology
‘Voyage of Time’ is Terrence Malick’s ode to life
With “Voyage of Time,” director Terrence Malick brings the history of the universe — and the evolution of life on Earth — to the big screen.
- Animals
Bees take longer to learn floral odors polluted by vehicle fumes
Car and truck exhaust mingling with a floral scent can slow down the important process of honeybees learning the fragrance of a flower.
- Oceans
Atlantic monument is home to unique and varied creatures
A region of ocean off the coast of Cape Cod has become the first U.S. marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Neuroscience
Nerve cell migration after birth may explain infant brain’s flexibility
A large group of neurons migrates into babies’ frontal lobes after birth.
- Plants
Flower lures pollinators with smell of honeybee fear
When it comes to attracting pollinators, one flower species catches more flies with honeybees.
- Animals
Eels may not take most direct route in epic ocean-crossing spawning runs
European eels’ epic ocean migrations to spawn may include more peculiar routes and timing than thought.
