Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    Long-tongued fly sips from afar

    Long-tongued flies can dabble in shallow blossoms or reach into flowers with roomier nectar tubes.

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  2. Animals

    Chimps keep numbers high as forest losses mount

    African apes show surprising resilience in face of forest destruction.

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  3. Animals

    Chimps keep numbers high as forest losses mount

    African apes show surprising resilience in face of forest destruction.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Altered protein makes mice smarter

    By tweaking a single gene, scientists have turned average mice into supersmart daredevils.

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  5. Genetics

    The human genome takes shape and shifts over time

    Scientists are mapping and modeling the 4-D human genome to get beyond its linear structure.

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  6. Animals

    A naturalist recounts birds’ lives in the Scottish Highlands

    In Gods of the Morning, a naturalist chronicles how birds and other wildlife withstand the changing seasons in the Scottish Highlands

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  7. Animals

    ‘Prehistoric Predators’ is a carnival of ancient dinosaurs, mammals and more

    A new children’s book offers gorgeous illustrations and information for everyone about ancient carnivores.

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  8. Life

    Extinction in lab bottle was a fluke, experiment finds

    Extinction in a bottle was a random catastrophe, not survival of the fittest.

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  9. Neuroscience

    Whistled language uses both sides of the brain

    Unlike spoken words, language made of whistles processed by both sides of the brain.

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  10. Animals

    Seeing humans as superpredators

    People have become a unique predator, hunting mostly adults of other species.

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  11. Plants

    What fairy circles teach us about science

    Science can’t yet tell us how fairy circles form, but that’s not a failure for science.

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  12. Genetics

    Gene thought to cause obesity works indirectly

    Researchers have discovered a “genetic switch” that determines whether people will burn extra calories or save them as fat.

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