Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. Animals

    Two newly identified dinosaurs donned weird horns

    Two newly discovered relatives of Triceratops had unusual head adornments — even for horned dinosaurs.

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  4. Quantum Physics

    Quantum fragility may help birds navigate

    Birds’ internal compasses may rely on the delicate nature of the quantum world.

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  5. Plants

    ‘Lab Girl’ invites readers into hidden world of plants

    In Lab Girl, geobiologist Hope Jahren reveals secret lives of plants — and scientists.

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  6. 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.

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  7. Animals

    Reptile scales share evolutionary origin with hair, feathers

    Hair, scales and feathers arose from same ancestral appendage.

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  8. 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.

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  9. 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.

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  10. 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.

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  11. Life

    New species of bacteria found to cause Lyme disease

    Camping? Don’t forget the bug spray. Lyme disease covers new ground.

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  12. 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.

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