Life

  1. Paleontology

    Fossils, now available in color

    Fossilized feathers of an early bird or dinosaur may retain evidence of pigment, offering a chance to animal colors of the Cretaceous.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Animal rights and wrongs

    Featured blog: Some animal-rights activists are taking a page out of the anti-abortionists' playbook and now bully animal researchers at home.

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  3. Life

    Seeing without eyes

    Scientists are looking into the cellular pathways that allow an eyeless roundworm to see.

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  4. Life

    Fountain of Youth, with caveats

    A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.

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  5. Agriculture

    Fishy Data on Weed Killer

    A popular weed killer can feminize wildlife by tinkering with a gene that indirectly affects the production of sex hormones.

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  6. Science & Society

    Climate Threatens Living Fossil

    Thanks to global warming, within the lifetimes of certain reptiles in the South Pacific, all members of their species could be born male.

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  7. Life

    Embryos can learn visually

    For cuttlefish embryos, what they see is what they'll crave as food later

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  8. Chemistry

    HIV knockout

    Cutting a gene in immune cells could offer a new way to treat HIV infections.

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  9. Animals

    Mighty mites

    Mites that were thought to be parasites to their host wasps turn out to be bodyguards, attacking intruders.

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  10. Animals

    Live fast, die young

    With a lifespan of just five months, the chameleon Furcifer labordi leads a briefer life than any other land-dwelling vertebrate.

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  11. Math

    Optimizing leafy networks

    Scientists reveal a mathematical principle underlying the arrangement of leaf veins in plant species.

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  12. Animals

    Whaling, to be announced

    The 60th meeting of the International Whaling Commission defers voting on deadlocked issues

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