Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Spiders get bigger in the big city
City-living golden orb-weaving spiders tend to be bigger than those that live in the countryside, a new study finds.
- Genetics
Ebola genome clarifies origins of West African outbreak
Genetic analyses suggest that a single infected person sparked the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
- Health & Medicine
Human tests of experimental Ebola vaccine set to start
NIH and NIAID have announced that human tests of an experimental vaccine against Ebola virus will begin in early September.
- Neuroscience
Laser light rewrites memories in mice
Mouse experiment demonstrates that good memories can be transformed into bad ones, and vice versa.
- Tech
To have a sound mind, a brain needs a body
Replicating human intelligence in robots requires the right materials for brain-body-environment interactions.
- Life
Gut bacteria may prevent food allergies
In mice, gut bacteria blocked food from seeping out of the intestines and triggering an immune reaction in the bloodstream.
- Animals
Magpies don’t like shiny things
Magpies’ reputation as thieving birds that will steal shiny objects is all wrong, a new study finds.
- Chemistry
Liquid salts break through armored bacteria on skin
Compounds called ionic liquids can penetrate bacterial biofilms on skin to deliver antibiotics to potentially life-threatening infections.
- Animals
Antarctic midge sports tiniest insect genome
Antarctic midge‘s genetic minimalism achieved by skipping a lot of repetitive stretches.
- Animals
Corals, fish know bad reefs by their whiff
Compounds drifting off certain overgrown seaweeds discourage young corals and fish from settling in failing reefs.
- Psychology
Hypothesis on evolution of PMS attracts hostility
A new hypothesis states that PMS is evolutionarily useful for making women leave an infertile partnership. But other scientists question whether the hypothesis is reasonable or, in fact, even necessary.
- Animals
Bumphead parrot fish declare their arrival with a crunch
Months of swimming with the coral-biter bumpheads exposes the animal’s extreme digestion and also a conservation dilemma.
