Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
To cook up life, just add citrate
The theory that RNA spawned the first organisms gets a boost from a common compound.
- Ecosystems
Cannibalistic mantis invades New Zealand, eats natives
Native male New Zealand mantises try to mate with females of an invasive species, only to find out the hard way that those females eat their mates.
- Life
Compounds defeat malaria at every step
Experimental drugs are first to kill all stages of the parasite’s infection cycle.
- Animals
To study turkey instincts, consider robot turkeys
In 2004, Australian researchers built robot turkeys to study the instincts of Australian brush turkey chicks. Robots can be a useful way of learning more about animals, but the use of robots has yet to take over in animal behavior studies.
- Neuroscience
The memory benefits of distraction
We usually think of distraction as a bad thing for memory. But under certain conditions, distraction may help rather than hurt.
- Animals
Odd head of seahorse cloaks its sneak attacks
Head shape creates hydrodynamic fake-out for stealth hunting.
- Materials Science
Material inspired by dragonfly wings bursts bacteria
Silicon studded with nanostructures could act as antimicrobial coating on medical devices.
- Genetics
DNA changes may show how whales adapted to water
Comparing the genetic material of whales has revealed DNA changes that may have helped the animals adapt to aquatic environments.
- Plants
How weeds hitchhike across the country
A drive down a muddy lane can be fun, but it can also pick up the seeds of weeds or invasive species and transport them far away.
- Life
Fungal fight club
Combat between fungal individuals is a bit like war between heaps of spaghetti.
- Paleontology
New dinosaur species joins ranks of giant carnivores
The newly named Siats meekerorum probably roamed what is now Utah about 98 million years ago terrorizing the ancestors of T. rex.
- Agriculture
Probiotics may protect piglets from E. coli infection
Beneficial bacteria could replace antibiotics in pig feed.
