Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Neuroscience

    Wiping out gut bacteria impairs brain

    Antibiotics that wiped out gut bacteria curbed brain cell production in mice, a new study finds.

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  2. Genetics

    Some Stone Age humans returned to Africa

    DNA from an ancient woman suggests some humans trekked back to Africa.

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  3. Genetics

    Some Stone Age humans ventured back to Africa

    DNA from an ancient woman suggests some humans trekked back to Africa.

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  4. Animals

    Hornbills join toucans in the cool beak club

    Like toucans, southern yellow-billed hornbills keep things chill with cool beaks.

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  5. Life

    1.56-billion-year-old fossils add drama to Earth’s ‘boring billion’

    Ancient multicellular eukaryotes big enough to be seen by the naked eye discovered in 1.56-billion-year-old rock in China may be an ancestor of modern algae.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Math offers new view of brain and its disorders

    Editor in chief Eva Emerson discusses new insights into the brain's role in mental illness, sleep, and ancient rituals.

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  7. Animals

    The bizarre mating ritual of a bee parasite

    Stylops ovinae insects — parasites found in mining bees — have short lives filled with trauma.

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  8. Animals

    Some animals ‘see’ the world through oddball eyes

    Purple urchins, aka crawling eyeballs, are just one of several bizarre visual systems broadening scientists’ view of what makes an eye.

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  9. Agriculture

    New analysis: Genetically engineered foods not a health risk

    No real evidence for health or environmental dangers of GE crops.

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  10. Life

    How the Galápagos cormorant got its tiny wings

    Galápagos cormorants’ tiny wings may be due to altered reception in cellular antennas.

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  11. Life

    Giraffe’s long neck linked to its genetic profile

    Giraffes’ genes may reveal how their necks grew long and hearts got strong.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Scientists wrestle with possibility of second Zika-spreading mosquito

    It’s hard to say yet whether Asian tiger mosquitoes will worsen the ongoing Zika outbreak in the Americas.

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