Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
Brain shot
Deciphering how the brain’s circuitry produces thought and behavior is an ambitious and enticing goal on the scale of the Apollo Program or the Human Genome Project. But the neuroscientists involved in a new federal effort have many challenges ahead.
- Earth
Ammonite jaws provide a window into ancient climate
Temperature of marine environment can be determined from cephalopod fossils.
- Genetics
When flowers died out in Arctic, so did mammoths
Genetic analysis finds vegetation change in the Arctic around same time as megafauna extinction.
- Neuroscience
Diuretic may treat autism, study in rodents suggests
Drug that lowers chloride levels in brain cells staves off symptoms in mice and rats.
- Life
Some animals eat their moms, and other cannibalism facts
A new book surveys those who eat their own kind, revealing some surprises about who’s eating whom.
- Neuroscience
Prosthetic provides sense of touch to man who lost hand
A new prosthetic hand restores a sense of touch by stimulating nerves in the arm.
- Ecosystems
Amazon doesn’t actually go green in dry seasons
An optical illusion in satellite data made forests appear to grow faster.
- Life
The fluid part of semen plays a seminal role
We often think of reproduction as involving only sperm and egg. But a new study highlights the seminal role of liquid semen in fertility and healthy offspring.
- Genetics
Chemical changes to genes make twins’ pain differ
Chemical changes to genes may make identical twins experience pain differently.
- Health & Medicine
Overcoming peanut allergy requires maintenance for most
In small study, nearly all people who stopped eating the legumes daily later experienced an allergic reaction.
- Life
Mosquito sperm may sense smells
Mosquitoes’ sperm may have chemical sensors that detect odors similar to the way the insect’s antennae sort smells.
- Paleontology
Rivers of rock and gas froze ancient animals in time
Ancient Chinese fossil beds were preserved by high-speed rivers of volcanic rock and gas.
