Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
The Last Lost World
Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene, by Lydia V. Pyne and Stephen J. Pyne.
- Neuroscience
Nonstick trick in the brain
Getting drugs into the brain has proved to be a nanoscale puzzle: Anything bigger than 64 nanometers — about the size of a small virus — gets stuck in the space between brain cells once it gets through the blood-brain barrier. Justin Hanes of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and colleagues got around this rule by coating particles destined for brain cells in a dense layer of a polymer called polyethylene glycol.
- Animals
Face Smarts
Macaques, sheep and even wasps may join people as masters at facial recognition.
- Humans
Africans’ genes mute on human birthplace
Latest DNA studies confirm previous research on the prehistory of African groups, but still can’t locate the root of the species.
- Math
Bumblebees navigate new turf without a map
The insects can quickly calculate the best route between flowers.
- Life
E. coli caught in the act of evolving
Researchers track thousands of bacterial generations to document the development of a trait nearly 25 years in the making.
- Life
DNA tags may dictate bee behavior
Chemical alterations affect genetic activity but not the genes themselves.
- Life
Flash leads to flex in lab-grown muscle
Light-activated artificial tissue inspires dream of squirming wormbots.
- Neuroscience
Copycat mentality may be a hardwired way for animals to learn to avoid others’ mistakes
Copycat mentality may be a hardwired way for animals to learn to avoid others’ mistakes.
- Life
Killer whale mama’s boys live longer
Survival benefits may explain females’ extended life span following menopause.
- Life
Stem cells may help in treating deafness
A new method triggers the development of sound-sensitive neurons in the inner ear.
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