Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Fowl surprise! Methylmercury improves hatching rate
A pinch of methylmercury is just ducky for mallard reproduction, according to a new federal study. The findings are counterintuitive, since methylmercury is ordinarily a potent neurotoxic pollutant.
- Life
Researchers distinguish two different types of blood stem cells
Working in mice, scientists find that red and white blood cells arise from different progenitors.
- Life
Rise of female weaponry driven by poop fights
Motherly fights for excrement in one species of dung beetle have favored the evolution of a special female horn.
- Paleontology
Ancient DNA suggests polar bears evolved recently
A study of a rare Norwegian fossil narrows down when polar bears evolved and finds they are closely related to modern-day brown bears in Alaska.
- Life
Hydrothermal vents sometimes colonized from afar
Deep-sea currents can waft larvae hundreds of kilometers.
- Plants
Losing life’s variety
2010 is the deadline set for reversing declines in biodiversity, but little has been accomplished.
- Ecosystems
Sea of plastics
Oceanographers are finding more patches of floating polymers, some up to 20 meters deep.
- Life
Ultraviolet freckles start fish fights
Two damselfish species use short wavelengths to recognize rivals’ spots.
- Animals
Whale hunts: Discussions on lifting the ‘ban’
The International Whaling Commission will formally address its future, next week, at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. Once comprised of whaling nations, the IWC now includes member states just as likely to condemn any hunting of cetaceans. That internal tension is guiding the meeting’s agenda. On it’s plate: whether to overturn the organization’s long-standing moratorium on commercial whaling.
- Life
Inflaming dangers of a fat-laden meal
In overweight people, immune cells embedded in fat are sensitive to high levels of fat in the blood, triggering inflammation that can lead to heart disease and diabetes.
- Ecosystems
Sperm whales may team up to herd prey
Data recorders yield first hints of coordinated feeding behavior.
- Life
Bacterial neighbors get mean
Strains of the same species growing just meters apart can do a lot of damage to each other — and to themselves.
