Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Amphibian killer forces immune-cell suicides
Fungal menace to frogs and their kin shuts down key parts of the animals’ defenses.
- Neuroscience
Sleep allows brain to wash out junk
Discovery of fluids flowing in mice while they slumber could lead to better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
-
- Neuroscience
NFL players’ brains take a hit
Brain scans reveal hidden abnormalities in retired football pros.
- Animals
Young chimps catch human yawns
Juvenile chimps yawn contagiously when they see humans do it, a response that could signal the animals are developing empathy.
- Animals
Lurking males lead to hard-to-fertilize mouse eggs
Mixed-sex society raises resistance to sperm in what may be a long-running arms race between the sexes over fertilization.
- Life
Scorpion genome decoded
An analysis of an arachnid’s DNA reveals how the animal survives its own venom.
-
- Life
Flashy drug spotlights infection
Doctors may be able to watch for invading microbes with a fluorescent antibiotic.
- Life
Broccoli compound protects rats from lethal radiation
Treatment shields healthy cells from gamma ray attack but lets tumors die.
- Health & Medicine
Electrodes dupe brain into feeling touch
Stimulating the right neuron at the right time gave monkeys the sensation of contact.
- Animals
Dogs pick up robots’ social cues
Dogs were more likely to pay attention to a PeopleBot robot — a machine with a laptop head and Mickey Mouse–style hands — after watching it walk, talk and shake hands with humans.
