Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
A brain chemical tells when to fight or flee
Crickets tally the knocks they take in a fight, and flee when their brains release nitric oxide to tell them they’ve had enough.
- Life
For healthy eating, timing matters
Limiting eating times improves heart function in fruit flies.
- Neuroscience
Sniffing out human pheromones
A new review argues that most of the chemicals labeled human pheromones, and the experiments behind them, don’t pass the smell test.
- Neuroscience
Ultrasound attacks Alzheimer’s plaques
A new study offers clues to how ultrasound may work as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
- Paleontology
How arthropods got their legs
New fossils reveal how arthropods evolved branching limbs.
- Life
Chickens to blame for spread of latest deadly bird flu
Chickens are responsible for the second wave of H7N9 bird flu in China.
- Animals
Flowers make the menu for nearly all Galapagos birds
Almost every species of Galapagos land bird has been found feeding on the nectar and pollen of flowers. Such an expansion of diet has never before been observed.
- Neuroscience
Electrical zap of cells shapes growing brains
The electric charge across cell membranes directs many aspects of brain development, and changing it can fix certain brain birth defects.
- Neuroscience
Mapping aggression circuits in the brain
Using optogenetics and other techniques, scientists are tracing connections to and from the brain’s aggression command center.
- Life
Experimental herpes vaccine works in mice
An experimental herpes vaccine works in animal tests by using an approach starkly different from that used in previous vaccine development.
- Animals
Hummingbird may get promoted
Not just a subspecies: A flashy, squeaky hummingbird should become its own species, ornithologists argue.
- Life
Life’s origin might illustrate the power of game theory
Game theory math can describe molecular competition and cooperation, perhaps providing clues to the origin of life.
