Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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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.
- Life
How not to eat the wrong frog
Panamanian bats use an array of senses to keep from ingesting poison prey.
- Life
Blue light tells plants when to flower
Protein that marks day length also coordinates blooming genes.
- Life
Delay of bloom blamed on climate change
Flowers that appear immune to global warming in spring may simply be taking a cue from the previous warmer autumn.
- Life
No new smell cells
Other mammals constantly create new olfactory neurons as they learn new smells, but a new study suggests humans don’t.
- Life
Climate change miscues may shrink species’ outer limits
Ecological partnerships are getting out of sync especially at high latitudes, a study of hummingbirds suggests.
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- Life
Good cholesterol may not be what keeps the heart healthy
Genetic study suggests that higher levels of HDL aren’t directly responsible for the lower risk of cardiovascular disease seen in population studies.
