Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Plants
Potatoes have their roots in ancient tomatoes
Knowing potatoes’ origin story could help future-proof the crucial crop against climate threats.
- Health & Medicine
A molecule produced by gut microbes may help spur heart disease
A leftover from microbes’ meals is linked to early heart disease in people. In mice, it contributed to plaque buildup in the arteries.
- Health & Medicine
You may already have some protection from bird flu, but don’t count on it
Studies suggest that people who had seasonal flus or vaccinations have low antibody levels against H5N1 bird flu.
- Animals
Some killer whales hunt in pairs to maximize their bounty
Drone footage from Norway shows killer whales using a highly coordinated and cooperative hunting technique to catch herring.
- Animals
This desert beetle runs to cool off
After a sprint, the temperature of the beetle Onymacris plana drops. Efficient running, a body built for cooling and a little bit of lift all help.
- Health & Medicine
Climate change may be pushing fungal allergy season earlier
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may be lengthening fungal allergy season, which starts 3 weeks earlier than it did two decades ago.
- Life
This killer fungus strikes at sunset. Here’s how
The fungus Entomophthora muscae turns flies into zombies and kills them at sunset. An internal kill clock may explain the mysterious timing.
- Health & Medicine
‘Rehab’ exposes the dark underside of U.S. drug treatment centers
In Rehab, journalist Shoshana Walter investigates the systemic pitfalls of drug treatment programs, which prevent people’s recovery from addiction.
- Animals
Some penguins save energy by riding ocean currents
When navigating home, Magellanic penguins alternate between heading straight back in calm waters and swimming with the flow in strong ocean currents.
- Animals
A dog’s taste for TV may depend on its temperament
Anxious dogs might react nervously to some television sounds, a survey of dog owners reports, while hyper ones might try to play chase.
- Animals
A newly discovered cell helps pythons poop out the bones of their prey
The cells helps the snakes absorb the bones of their prey — and might show up in other animals that chomp their meals whole.
- Paleontology
How an ancient marine predator snuck up on its prey
Serrations at the edges of a fossilized flipper of the ancient marine reptile Temnodontosaurus suggests it may have been able to swim silently.
