Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Neandertals’ inferiority to early humans questioned
Early modern humans may not have been smarter or more technologically or socially savvy than their Neandertal neighbors.
- Health & Medicine
Potential H7N9 bird flu vaccine shows promise
An early trial of a bird flu vaccine suggests that the treatment could be used to counter the potentially deadly H7N9 flu virus.
- Health & Medicine
With help from pig tissue, people regrow muscle
Noncellular material implanted in patients attracts stem cells to fix injuries.
- Environment
Prestige oil spill linked to drop in seabird chicks
European shag in colonies affected by the 2002 Prestige oil tanker spill produced fewer chicks than birds in oil-free colonies.
- Science & Society
Students retain information better with pens than laptops
Compared with typing on a laptop, writing notes by hand may lead to deeper understanding of lecture material.
- Life
Dietary fiber may curb appetite by acting on brain
Fiber's ability to curb appetite may come from gut molecules traveling to and acting on the brain, not the gut alone.
- Animals
Abandoned frog eggs can hatch early
If their father doesn’t keep them hydrated, frog embryos react by hatching early.
- Neuroscience
How brains filter the signal from the noise
Our brains can distinguish a single voice in the middle of a noisy street. A new study in ferrets shows how auditory systems might separate the signal from the noise.
- Genetics
E. coli’s mutation rate linked to cells’ crosstalk
When E. coli cells are in smaller crowds, their genes mutate at an increased rate.
- Plants
South American vine is a masterful mimic
The vine Boquila trifoliolata changes the shape of its leaves to match its host and avoid getting eaten.
- Life
1918 flu pandemic linked to human, bird virus gene swap
The 1918 pandemic flu, which killed up to 50 million people, may have come from a human virus and a bird virus swapping genetic material.
- Paleontology
‘Hidden dragon’ fossil is oldest flying reptile
Researchers have unearthed the oldest pterodactyl ever discovered: Kptodrakon progenitor soared over the Earth 163 million years ago.
