Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
Ebola continues to shift, but grows no more fatal
In the West African epidemic, Ebola evolved and spread quickly, but the virus is not becoming deadlier over time.
- Animals
Unpredictable egg scramble throws off parasitic parents
Eggs of some species of warbler and weaver birds appear to have individual signatures, which can help distinguish them from the eggs of parasitic cuckoos.
- Animals
How mantis shrimps spar
In ritualized combat between deadly mantis shrimp, blows count but don’t kill.
- Animals
One bold, misinformed spider slows a colony’s ability to learn
Incorrect ideas prove more dangerous in bold velvet spiders than in shyer ones.
- Animals
Unpredictable egg scramble throws off parasitic parents
Eggs of some species of warbler and weaver birds appear to have individual signatures, which can help distinguish them from the eggs of parasitic cuckoos.
- Animals
With Tasmanian devils gone, possums come down from the trees
In areas where Tasmanian devils have largely disappeared, their prey is becoming more adventuresome, a new study finds.
- Neuroscience
Homunculus reimagined
A new study pinpoints the part of the brain that controls the neck muscles, tweaking the motor homunculus.
- Neuroscience
Homunculus reimagined
A new study pinpoints the part of the brain that controls the neck muscles, tweaking the motor homunculus.
- Animals
Moon jellies muscle their way to recovery
Symmetrization, using rapid muscle movements to repair body symmetry, is the go-to healing mechanism for the limbed stage of moon jellyfish.
- Animals
Male peacocks keep eyes low when checking out competition
Eye-tracking technology shows peacocks barely gaze at the full height of other males magnificent eyespot feather spreads.
- Animals
How a trap-jaw ant carries a baby
Powerful jaws make the Odontomachus brunneus ant a skilled escape artist.
- Animals
Why whistling caterpillars scare birds
Caterpillars that whistle when birds peck at them may be giving phony avian warning calls.
