Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Babies low on key gut bacteria at higher risk of asthma
Asthma risk may be set early in life, but mice data suggest that the risk could altered by friendly gut bacteria.
- Animals
Some seabirds will be hit hard by sea level rise
Seabird species that nest on low-lying islands in stormy winter months could see huge losses as sea levels rise, a new study finds.
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- Animals
Lights at night trick wild wallabies into breeding late
Artificial lighting is driving wild tammar wallabies to breed out of sync with peak season for food
- Life
‘Protocells’ show ability to reproduce
Lab-made “protocells” mimic the division process of early cells, and may help researchers understand cellular evolution.
- Animals
Some bats chug nectar with conveyor belt tongues
Grooved bat tongues work like escalators or conveyor belts, transporting nectar from tip to mouth.
- Animals
Math describes sheep herd fluctuations
Scientists have developed equations to describe the motion of a herd of sheep.
- Animals
Life in the polar ocean is surprisingly active in the dark winter
The Arctic polar winter may leave marine ecosystems dark for weeks on end, but life doesn’t shut down, a new study finds.
- Animals
Don’t judge a whale’s gut microbiome by diet alone
Evolutionary history and diet may both determine the microbes that live in a baleen whale's stomach, researchers report.
- Neuroscience
How a fat hormone might make us born to run
Many runners finish long races in a euphoric mood. The underpinnings of this runner’s high may involve many chemicals, including the fat hormone leptin.
- Animals
Alpine bee tongues shorten as climate warms
Pollinators’ match with certain alpine flowers erodes as climate change pushes fast evolution.
- Health & Medicine
What makes cells stop dividing and growing
Scientists have found that the protein GATA4 helps control cellular senescence, and may be a target for treating aging-related diseases.
