Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Neuroscience
Protectors of our nervous system play a role in pain
PET and MRI brain scans show that the cells that protect our central nervous system also play a role in chronic pain.
- Animals
Squids edit genetic directions extensively
In squids, RNA editing means that DNA often does not get the final say in which proteins are created.
- Animals
Paternity test reveals father’s role in mystery shark birth
A shark pup was born in a tank with three female sharks but no males. A genetic study finds that the shark must have stored sperm for nearly four years.
- Animals
Amazonian bird may act the part of its hairy caterpillar disguise
A rare view of a baby cinereous mourner feeds debate over whether the bird both looks and acts the part of a toxic hairy caterpillar as defense against predators.
- Neuroscience
Soft brain implant helps paralyzed rats walk again
Scientists have made a soft, flexible electrical implant that mimics the elasticity of the brain and spine's protective tissue.
- Animals
Disco clams may flash chemical-weapons warning
Puzzling disco clam light show might warn predators not to bite.
- Climate
Galápagos waters preview future for corals
Posthumous analysis of Galápagos coral reefs reveals how climate change, carbon dioxide and pollution could kill off reefs worldwide by 2050.
- Animals
‘Bag of chips effect’ helps bats find a meal
Bats get a clue to where dinner is by listening to peers attacking prey.
- Health & Medicine
New antibiotic candidate shows promise
Tests in lab dishes and mice suggest an experimental compound called teixobactin can kill staph, TB microbes and other bacteria.
