Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Tooth, jaw fossils tell tale of North America’s last nonhuman primates
Oregon fossils provide new clues to North America’s last nonhuman primates.
- Genetics
Genetic switch wipes out tumors in mice
By switching on a single gene, researchers turned cancer cells in mice back into normal intestinal tissue.
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- Health & Medicine
Potential pain treatment’s mechanism deciphered
Scientists have new insight as to how a class of environment-sensing bone marrow cells can help safely relieve pain.
- Life
Cutting calories lets yeast live longer
A new study confirms yeast live longer on fewer calories.
- Life
A downy killer wages chemical warfare
The common fungus Beauveria bassiana makes white downy corpses of its victims.
- Genetics
Mutation-disease link masked in zebrafish
Zebrafish study shows organisms can work around DNA mutations.
- Physics
Swimming bacteria remove resistance to flow
The collective motion of swimming bacteria can virtually eliminate a water-based solution’s resistance to flow.
- Animals
Children’s classic ‘Watership Down’ is based on real science
The novel ‘Watership Down’ is the tale of a bunch of anthropomorphized rabbits. Their language may be unreal, but the animals’ behavior was rooted in science.
- Plants
Flowers’ roles considered in ecosystems and economics
In ‘The Reason for Flowers’, a pollination ecologist chronicles the science and culture of blossoms from the dawn of humanity.
- Paleontology
Ancient comb jellies might have had skeletons
Soft and filmy today, comb jellies might once have had rigid skeletons.
- Anthropology
Monkey’s small brain shows surprising folds
An ancient monkey’s tiny brain developed folds, raising questions about primate evolution.
