Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
The need to feed and eating for pleasure are inextricably linked
Scientists used to think that the hunger and the pleasure from food could be easily distinguished. But new results show these systems are inextricably intertwined.
- Animals
Tropical songbirds get their growth spurt late
Tropical songbirds are late bloomers, but that delayed development may give them an advantage after leaving the nest.
- Animals
Decoy switches frogs’ mating call preference
A female túngara frog may switch her choice between two prospective mates when presented with a third, least attractive option.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccinated man excretes live poliovirus for nearly 3 decades
For almost 30 years, a man with an immune deficiency has been shedding poliovirus strains that have evolved from the version he received in a vaccine.
- Animals
Tropical songbirds get their growth spurt late
Tropical songbirds are late bloomers, but that delayed development may give them an advantage after leaving the nest.
- Genetics
DNA architecture, novel forensics offer new clues
Going from theory to practice is always rife with problems, be it shifting from the sequence of DNA’s letters to observing its dynamic machinations or from an identity marker in the lab to a piece of courtroom evidence.
- Humans
Moon bounces, bad spider leaders and more reader feedback
Readers debate faith's role in evolution, compare politicians to spiders and more.
- Chemistry
Wanted: Crime-solving bacteria and body odor
Forensic investigators are moving past old-school sleuthing to analyze microbes and odors that tell a more complete story, while pursuing ways to enhance traditional tools as well.
- Health & Medicine
Blood test can predict breast cancer relapse
Blood tests for breast cancer DNA can predict relapse.
- Animals
Twin pandas look forward to growth spurts
The surviving panda twin born at the National Zoo last weekend will undergo DNA tests to discover paternity.
- Animals
A world of mammal diversity has been lost because of humans
Humans have eradicated large mammal biodiversity in most regions of the globe, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Virus closely related to hepatitis A discovered in seals
Scientists have discovered a relative of the hepatitis A virus in seals.
