Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Pain curbs sex drive in females, but not males
When in pain, female mice’s interest in sex takes a hit but males still want to mate.
- Genetics
New antibiotic resistance genes found in cow manure
Identifying these genes offers clues to how antibiotic resistance could move from agricultural ecosystems to other communities of organisms.
- Genetics
Neandertal, modern human DNA deviates even more
An analysis of genetic material of Neandertals and modern humans shows genetic differences in the species' population sizes and even the curves of their spines.
- Neuroscience
Bingeing rats show the power of food habits
Rats allowed to binge on sweetened milk show a bad habit for food. But while food might change our habits, a bad food habit may not necessarily be an addiction.
- Life
Cheetahs, but not wild dogs, manage to live with lions
One conservation tenet says that cheetahs can’t survive when lions are around, but it’s wild dogs that disappeared in one lion-dense area of the Serengeti.
- Animals
Little thylacine had a big bite
A reconstruction of the skull of a thylacine, an extinct, fox-sized Australian marsupial, reveals that the animal could have eaten prey much larger than itself.
- Ecosystems
War’s ecological effects laid bare in ‘A Window on Eternity’
In "A Window on Eternity," entomologist E.O. Wilson chronicles both the shifting ecology of Gorongosa National Park after the war and how researchers are trying to repair the damage.
- Earth
Surge seen in number of U.S. wildfires
The number and size of wildfires in the western United States has steadily risen over the last three decades.
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- Life
Insulating sheath on nerve cells isn’t an even coat
Myelin doesn't evenly coat axons, a finding that runs counter to what scientists suspected.
- Genetics
Cloning produces stem cells from adult skin
Human embryonic stem cells made using adult cells could enable medical advances such as replacement organs.
- Genetics
New tools reveal new truths about fungi, flies, antibiotics
In the newsroom, any story about a new scientific method faces an uphill battle. In this issue are a number of stories that feature how science is done.
