Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Life

    Images probe artery-hardening plaques

    Zooming in on hardened arteries shows researchers which plaques pose heart attack risks.

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  2. Microbes

    Cyanobacteria use their whole bodies as eyeballs

    Little spheres of cyanobacteria cells roughly focus light on sensitive compounds that let them walk in the right direction.

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  3. Earth

    Ocean’s plastics offer a floating fortress to a mess of microbes

    Microbes take up residence on ocean plastics, potentially causing changes in ocean environments.

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  4. Agriculture

    Plants trick bacteria into attacking too soon

    Scientists have discovered that a plant compound interferes with bacterial communication.

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  5. Tech

    This roach-inspired robot can wiggle through tight spaces

    Cockroaches inspired a compressible, crevice-navigating robot.

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  6. Neuroscience

    Cancer drug’s usefulness against Alzheimer’s disputed

    A preliminary report questions the anti-Alzheimer’s activity of a cancer-fighting drug.

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  7. Science & Society

    ‘GMOs’ isn’t a four-letter word, but it is hard to define

    The definition of what constitutes a genetically modified organism is a challenge to those tasked with developing standards for labeling foods that contain GMOs.

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  8. Animals

    White-tailed deer have their own form of malaria

    The otherwise well-studied white-tailed deer turns out to carry the first malaria parasite discovered in any deer.

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  9. Animals

    Harvester ants are restless, enigmatic architects

    Florida harvester ants dig complex, curly nests over, then leave and do it again.

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  10. Neuroscience

    Mouse study offers clues to brain’s response to concussions

    The brain needs time to recover between head hits, a study in mice suggests.

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  11. Animals

    Why some birds sing elaborate songs in the winter

    Several obvious hypotheses fail to explain why great reed warblers sing in winter.

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  12. Animals

    Meet the tarantula in black

    Named for Johnny Cash, a new species of tarantula makes its home in the shadow of Folsom Prison.

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