Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    Camera traps provide treasure trove of African animal pics

    Scientists set up hundreds of cameras across Serengeti National Park to capture images of predators and their prey.

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  2. Life

    MERS virus didn’t morph in its move to South Korea

    No obvious changes in the MERS virus account for its rapid spread in South Korea.

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  3. Life

    Tracing molecules’ movement in nails may help fight fungus

    Tracking chemicals through the human nail may provide valuable insight for drug development.

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  4. Paleontology

    Horned dino aside, here are some other fun fossil finds

    Here's a roundup of some fossil finds reported this week.

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  5. Animals

    ‘Virgin births’ won’t save endangered sawfish

    Sawfish are the first wild vertebrates found to reproduce via parthenogenesis.

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  6. Neuroscience

    Female’s nose blocks scent of a male

    When a female mouse is in an infertile stage of her reproductive cycle, her nose cells don’t alert her brain to the presence of a potential mate.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Fly spit protein holds back parasite infection in monkeys

    A protein called PdS15 found in the saliva of the sand fly that spreads leishmaniasis may be used in a vaccine to combat the parasitic scourge causing the illness.

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  8. Genetics

    DNA tags mostly deleted in human germ cells

    Human embryos come with some heavy-duty erasers. Chemical tags on DNA get mostly wiped out in the womb.

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  9. Paleontology

    Triceratops relative reveals dino diversity

    A newly discovered relative of Triceratops provides new insight into the evolution of horned dinosaurs.

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  10. Animals

    Pregnant male pipefish not so great at giving embryos oxygen

    During male pregnancy, pipefish embryos can get stunted by low oxygen in dad’s brood pouch.

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  11. Animals

    African herbivores share space but not diet

    Large herbivorous mammals on the plains of Kenya have distinctive diets, a new study finds.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Deadly MERS spreads in small cluster in South Korea

    Thirty people have MERS virus in the South Korean outbreak, including China’s first case.

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