Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Bacteria can cause pain on their own
Microbes caused discomfort in mice by activating nerves, not the immune system.
- Animals
Birds know road speed limits
Crows, house sparrows and other species judge when to flee the asphalt by average traffic rates rather than an oncoming car's speed.
- Ecosystems
Aging European forests full to the brim with carbon
Trees' capacity to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is dwindling.
- Plants
Dastardly daisies
This flower isn’t just any old sex cheat. It can be sexually deceptive three ways and in 3-D.
- Life
Years or decades later, flu exposure still prompts immunity
New forms of influenza viruses can spur production of antibodies to past pandemics in people who lived through them.
- Life
To make biofuel, cut the lignin
Researchers disable key protein making plant sugars easier to access.
- Health & Medicine
Gut-brain communication failure may spur overeating
Restoring a depleted molecule in obese mice repaired their abnormal response to food.
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- Animals
Antarctic waters may shelter wrecks from shipworms
Ocean currents and polar front form 'moat' that keeps destructive mollusks at bay.
- Health & Medicine
Mediterranean diet may offset genetic risk for stroke
Compared to a low-fat diet, eating fish and olive oil kept blood sugar levels lower in people with a common diabetes risk factor.
- Humans
DNA reveals details of the peopling of the Americas
Migrants came in three distinct waves that interbred once in the New World.
