Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Math
Slime mold is master network engineer
Single-cell organism develops food distribution system that is as efficient as the Tokyo rail system; inspires new math model for designing dynamic systems.
- Life
MRSA bacterial strain mutates quickly as it spreads
Antibiotic-resistant microbe's detailed family tree reveals roots of the global infection.
- Life
Protein may be new target for obesity, diabetes therapies
Molecule regulates flip of a metabolic switch, helps determine how the body uses glucose.
- Life
Snail in shining armor
A deep-sea gastropod’s natural shield may offer ideas for human protection.
- Life
Jiminy Cricket! Pollinator caught in the act
Using night-vision cameras, scientists have documented the first example of cricket pollination of an orchid and discovered a new species of the insect on the island of Réunion.
- Life
Alligators breathe like birds
Tricky measurements of flow reveal that air moves through the animal in one direction.
- Climate
Acidifying ocean may stifle phytoplankton
Chemical changes in seawater make a key nutrient less available to these organisms.
- Life
Soybean genome turns out to be soysoybeanbean
The plant's newly sequenced genetic blueprint includes a surprising number of spare copies.
- Life
Why light makes migraines worse
A new study traces brain wiring to discover why light increases migraine pain.
- Life
Sea slug steals genes for greens, makes chlorophyll like a plant
A sea slug, long known as a kidnapper of algal biochemistry, can make its own supply of a key photosynthetic compound.
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- Life
Bornavirus genes found in human DNA
Researchers have found molecular fossils of an RNA virus in human and other mammalian genomes, pushing back the emergence of RNA viruses millions of years.
