Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
How to see with eyes made of rock
Tiny mollusk eyes in chiton armor can pick up rough images.
- Animals
Adorable birds tap dance their way into the heart of a mate
Blue-capped cordon-bleu songbirds not only sing, but also tap dance to woo mates, study reveals.
- Health & Medicine
A good diet for you may be bad for me
Eating the same foods can produce very different reactions in people.
- Animals
Vampire bats share blood to make friends
Vampire bats that share blood with nonrelatives have a wider social network to rely on when they’re in need, a new study finds.
- Animals
Getting creative to cut methane from cows
Changing feed, giving vaccines and selective breeding may enable scientists to help beef and dairy cattle shake their title as one of society's worst methane producers.
- Health & Medicine
Engineered vocal cords show promise in animal tests
Lab-grown vocal cord tissue could lead the way to better treatments for people with vocal problems
- Science & Society
The vagus is the nerve to know
The nervous system's meandering superhighway has the potential to lead researchers treatments for myriad health conditions.
- Life
Truffles aren’t laced with radioactive cesium
Fallout from the Chernobyl disaster hasn’t made truffles dangerously radioactive, scientists find.
- Animals
Ponds and their toads cured of dreaded disease
Treating both tadpoles and their ponds for infection by deadly Bd chytrid fungus lets midwife toads go wild again.
- Health & Medicine
When selenium is scarce, brain battles testes for it
In competition for selenium, testes draw the nutrient away from the brain.
- Psychology
Caffeine gives cocaine an addictive boost
Not only is it popular to “cut” cocaine with caffeine, the combination might be more addictive.
- Plants
Genetic battle of the sexes plays out in cukes and melons
Genetics reveals new approach to preventing inbred seeds and encouraging more fruitful crops.
