Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Life
Fossils point to ancient ape-monkey split
Apes and monkeys split from a common ancestor more than 25 million years ago, fossil finds suggest.
- Life
Body’s clock linked to depression
Gene activity in the brain suggests that circadian rhythms are off-kilter in people with depression.
- Animals
The secret behind the alligator’s toothy smile
Dental stem cells enable the reptile to grow new teeth every year, researchers find.
- Animals
Cannibalistic spiders may just be choosy guys
Male Micaria sociabilis may choose to have older female for lunch, not sex.
- Life
Exploration forges differences in identical twins
Mice with the same genes and surroundings diverged in brain development depending on how much they moved around their environment.
- Animals
Malaria mosquito dosed with disease-fighting bacteria
After thousands of tries, lab gets parasite-carrying insect to catch Wolbachia.
- Life
Gut bacteria adapt to life in bladder
E. coli moving between systems may cause urinary tract infections.
