Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Parasites wormed way into dino’s gut
Tiny slimed tunnels in the guts of a 77-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur fossil offer the first hard evidence that dinosaurs may have been infected by parasitic worms, paleontologists say.
- Materials Science
Shark jelly is strong proton conductor
A jelly found in sharks and skates, which helps them sense electric fields, is a strong proton conductor.
- Animals
Two newly identified dinosaurs donned weird horns
Two newly discovered relatives of Triceratops had unusual head adornments — even for horned dinosaurs.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum fragility may help birds navigate
Birds’ internal compasses may rely on the delicate nature of the quantum world.
- Plants
‘Lab Girl’ invites readers into hidden world of plants
In Lab Girl, geobiologist Hope Jahren reveals secret lives of plants — and scientists.
- Life
Cities create accidental experiments in plant, animal evolution
To look for evolution in human-scale time, pick a city and watch a lizard. Or some clover.
- Animals
Reptile scales share evolutionary origin with hair, feathers
Hair, scales and feathers arose from same ancestral appendage.
- Animals
Insect debris fashion goes back to the Cretaceous
Ancient insects covered themselves in dirt and vegetation just as modern ones do, fossils preserved in amber suggest.
- Animals
Bacteria make male lacewings disappear
Scientists have tracked down why some green lacewings in Japan produce only female offspring: Bacteria kill off all the males early in life.
- Life
Scientists find clue to why mitochondrial DNA comes only from mom
Scientists have identified a protein that chops up the mitochondrial DNA in a dad’s sperm after it fertilizes an egg. The finding helps explain why mitochondrial DNA is usually passed on only by mothers.
- Life
New species of bacteria found to cause Lyme disease
Camping? Don’t forget the bug spray. Lyme disease covers new ground.
- Life
Fido and Fluffy could unleash drug-resistant microbes
After discovering resistant microbes in pets, scientists worry about the role of companion animals in the spread of resistant urinary infections.
