Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
This week in Zika: An anniversary, how the virus kills brain cells and more
New weapons in the fight against Zika, how the virus shrinks minibrains, a quick paper-based test for Zika, and more in this week’s Zika Watch.
- Plants
Venus flytraps use defensive genes for predation
Genetic analysis suggests that Venus flytraps repurposed plant defenses against herbivores to live the carnivore life.
- Life
Some Crohn’s genes make cells deaf to messages from good gut bacteria
Genes linked to Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, might make people’s immune cells miss out on helpful messages sent by friendly gut bacteria.
- Anthropology
Asian primates hit hard by ancient climate change
Chinese fossils suggest primates diverged in Asia and Africa around 34 million years ago.
- Plants
Here’s what a leaf looks like during a fatal attack of bubbles
Office equipment beats synchrotrons in showing how drought lets air bubbles kill the water-carrier network of veins in plant leaves.
- Microbes
Leptospirosis bacterium still haunts swimming holes
Bacterial scourges lurk in warm recreational waters.
- Animals
Cause of mass starfish die-offs is still a mystery
Sea stars off the U.S. west coast started dying off en masse in 2013. Scientists are still struggling to figure out the cause.
- Animals
Why Labrador retrievers are obsessed with food
A genetic variant could explain obesity trends seen in Labrador retrievers.
- Neuroscience
A breakdown product, not ketamine, may ease depression
Ketamine’s breakdown product, not the drug itself, eases depression, a mouse study suggests.
- Animals
New species of hairy weevil named after Chewbacca
A new weevil species,Trigonopterus chewbacca, joins the ranks of insects with a Star Wars moniker.
- Life
Studying cheese reveals how microbes interact
Microbiologist Rachel Dutton uses cheese rinds to study how microbes form communities.
- Animals
Male giant water bugs win females by babysitting
Female giant water bugs prefer males already caring for eggs, an evolutionary force for maintaining parental care.
