Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Genetics

    New era of human embryo gene editing begins

    Gene editing of viable human embryos is happening, in and out of the public eye.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    It’s time to retire the five-second rule

    Wet food can slurp bacteria off the floor in less than a second.

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  3. Plants

    Narrowed plumbing lets flower survive summer cold snaps

    Ice barriers help alpine plants save their flowers during summer cold snaps.

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  4. Genetics

    Endurance training leaves no memory in muscles

    Unlike strength training, endurance workouts left no genetic trace months later, calling into question idea of a general muscle memory.

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  5. Earth

    Natural ally against global warming not as strong as thought

    Soils may take in far less carbon by the end of the century than previously predicted, exacerbating climate change.

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  6. Genetics

    Single exodus from Africa gave rise to today’s non-Africans

    Genetics and climate studies differ on when modern humans left Africa.

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  7. Life

    Aneil Agrawal unites math and mess

    Evolutionary geneticist Aneil Agrawal is equally at home with real and hypothetical fruit flies.

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  8. Neuroscience

    Jessica Cantlon seeks the origins of numerical thinking

    Cognitive neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon wants to find out how humans understand numbers and where that understanding comes from.

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  9. Humans

    Lawrence David’s gut check gets personal

    Computational biologist Lawrence David regularly opens himself to new scientific challenges, including tracking his own microbiome.

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  10. Neuroscience

    Jeremy Freeman seeks to simplify complex brain science

    As a group leader at the Janelia Research Campus, Jeremy Freeman is equal parts neuroscientist, computer coder and data visualization whiz.

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  11. Oceans

    Melissa Omand’s clever tech follows the fate of ocean carbon

    Drawn to the water early, oceanographer Melissa Omand now leads research cruises studying how carbon and nutrients move through the seas.

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  12. Life

    How one scientist’s gut microbes changed over a year

    Computational biologist Lawrence David chronicled changes in his gut microbes for a year.

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