Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Experimental vaccine protects against many flu viruses
Ferrets that receive shot can fight off variety of influenza strains.
- Plants
Giant genomes felled by DNA sequencing advances
Complete genetic blueprints have been collected for several conifer species.
- Psychology
Dog sniffs out grammar
After years of word training, a canine intuitively figures out how simple sentences work.
- Life
Viruses and mucus team up to ward off bacteria
Phages may play an unforeseen role in immune protection, researchers find.
- Life
Analog circuits boost power in living computers
New cell-based computers do division and logarithms more like a slide rule than a laptop.
- Humans
Highlights from the Biology of Genomes meeting
Highlights from the genome biology meeting held May 7-11 in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., include an enormous tree's enormous genome, genes for strong-swimming sperm, and back-to-Africa migration some 3,000 years ago.
- Life
Invasive frogs may spread deadly amphibian fungus
African clawed frogs imported for 20th century pregnancy tests apparently communicate B. dendrobatidis to native species.
- Animals
Embracing the swarm
Entomologist Michael Raupp is enjoying Swarmageddon. The giant batch of cicadas began emerging from the ground in late April and will be heard in some northeastern states through June.
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- Animals
Malaria parasite drives mosquitoes to human scent
Compared to uninfected insects, ones carrying disease land more often on sweat-soaked stockings.
- Life
Cloning produces human embryonic stem cells
Fine-tuning of technique used in other animals could enable personalized medicine.
- Animals
Tamed fox shows domestication’s effects on the brain
Gene activity changes accompany doglike behavior in foxes bred over more than 50 years.
