Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Why seahorses have square tails
3-D printed seahorse tails reveal possible benefits of square cross-sections for armor and gripping.
- Neuroscience
Wrinkled brain mimics crumpled paper
Brains crumple up just like wads of paper, a new study suggests.
- Chemistry
Missing enzyme to blame for scentless roses
The unusual enzyme behind roses’ sweet smell may help researchers revive the flower’s potent aroma.
- Health & Medicine
Smell test may detect autism
A quick sniff test could reveal whether or not a child has autism, but some scientists have doubts.
- Life
Genetic tweak hints at why mammoths loved the cold
An altered temperature sensor helped mammoths adapt to the cold.
- Animals
Centipede discovered in caves 1,000 meters belowground
A newly discovered centipede species lives deep underground.
- Animals
Flatworm can self-fertilize by stabbing itself in the head
Hermaphroditic flatworms with hypodermic-style mating get sharp with themselves.
- Animals
Heat turns wild genetic male reptiles into functional females
Genetic male bearded dragons changed to females by overheating in the wild can still breed successfully.
- Life
Puzzling cosmic signals, processed food defined and more reader feedback
Readers sort out a definition for processed food, discuss the benefits of tinkering with human DNA and more.
- Climate
Pink salmon threatened by freshwater acidification
Ocean acidification gets more attention, but freshwater systems are also acidifying. That’s a problem for young salmon, a new study finds.
- Neuroscience
Old fruit flies’ swagger restored with brain chemical dopamine
Replenishing the chemical communicator dopamine to a handful of nerve cells makes old flies feel frisky again.
- Health & Medicine
Genetic tweak turned plague bacterium deadly
Two genetic changes allowed plague bacteria to cause deadly lung infections and pandemic disease.
