Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Newly identified brain circuit hints at how fear memories are made
A newfound set of brain connections appears to control fear memories, a finding that may lead to a better understanding of PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
- Animals
Cone snail deploys insulin to slow speedy prey
Fish-hunting cone snails turns insulin into a weapon that drops their prey’s blood sugar and eases capture.
- Life
Human evolution tied to a small fraction of the genome
Natural selection has concentrated on a small portion of the human genome, and mostly not on genes themselves.
- Animals
Lemurs aren’t pets
The first survey of lemur ownership in Madagascar finds that thousands of the rare primates are held in households.
- Life
Fossilized fish skull shakes up the evolutionary history of jaws
Analysis of a 415-million-year-old fossilized fish skull suggest that the earliest jawed vertebrates probably looked a lot like modern bony fish.
- Animals
Mountain migration is a roller coaster for bar-headed geese
Bar-headed geese rise and fall to match terrain below them when migrating over the Himalayas.
- Life
In battle to shape immunity, environment often beats genes
The environment, especially microbes, shapes immune system reactions more than genes do.
- Animals
Earth’s magnetic field guides sea turtles home
Over 19 years, geomagnetic fields changed slightly and so did loggerheads’ nesting sites.
- Neuroscience
Brain’s plumbing may knock out blood test for brain injury
The brain's waste-removal system may complicate scientists' attempts to create a blood test to diagnose traumatic brain injury.
- Neuroscience
To beat sleepiness of anxiety drugs, team looks to body’s clock
Studying basic functions, such as the body’s clock, has inadvertently led to a compound that relieves anxiety in mice.
- Neuroscience
Feedback
Readers discuss volcanoes and brain studies involving chocolate, and recommend some science-based options for game night.
- Plants
Tricky pitcher plants lure ants into a false sense of security
Carnivorous pitcher plants exploit social lives of ants as scouts escape and inadvertently lead nest mates to death trap.
