Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Calcium offers clues in mass extinction
Ocean acidification during Permian period may have caused the Great Dying.
- Life
You have grandpa’s chromosome tips
Older fathers pass more gene-protecting DNA to their paternal grandkids.
- Life
Invasive mite worsens honeybee viruses
Once-obscure deformed wing virus swept to prominence in honeybee colonies in Hawaiian islands as invasive pest arrived.
- Life
Microbes flourish under Arctic sea ice
Oceanographic expedition surprised to find photosynthetic microorganisms thriving under frozen surface.
- Animals
How a mosquito survives a raindrop hit
Lightweight insects can ride a water droplet, as long as they separate from it before hitting the ground.
- Life
Ancient birds wiped out huge insects
Competition in the air trumped the advantage of extra atmospheric oxygen.
- Life
Antiaging protein helps set daily rhythms
Changing levels of sirtuin in the brain alter activity patterns in mice.
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- Genetics
Poppies make more than opium
A 10-gene cluster controls the flowers’ production of a valuable cough suppressant and antitumor compound.
- Life
Treatment helps paralyzed rats walk
A combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and therapy can restore lost connections between lower limbs and brain.
- Life
Blue-green algae release chemical suspected in some amphibian deformities
Retinoic acid levels high in waterways rich in cyanobacteria blooms.
- Animals
Bat killer hits endangered grays
The news on white-nose syndrome just keeps spiraling downward. The fungal infection, which first emerged six years ago, has now been confirmed in a seventh species of North American bats — the largely cave-dwelling grays (Myotis grisecens). The latest victims were struck while hibernating this past winter in two Tennessee counties.
