Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Ecosystems
Flowering plants welcome other life
When angiosperms diversified 100 million years ago, they opened new niches for ants, plants and frogs.
- Life
Molecular link between vitamin D deficiency and MS
Scientists have discovered a molecular link that may help explain why Vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple sclerosis.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer fighting green tea may have a dark side
This herbal remedy can short-circuit one of the few useful therapies for largely incurable blood cancers.
- Genetics
Dog gene heeds call of the wild
Domesticated dogs passed a gene for dark fur color to their wild cousins.
- Life
Caterpillar noise tricks ants into service
Sneaky interlopers mimic the “voice” of an ant queen to get royal treatment from the colony. (Audio included.)
- Earth
Animal ancestors may have survived ‘snowball Earth’
Chemical fossils in Precambrian sedimentary rock push back the first date for animal life.
- Life
Earliest whales gave birth on land
Recently discovered fossils of a protowhale help fill in gaps in the land-to-water transition.
- Chemistry
Nonstick chemicals linked to infertility
Featured blog: Infertility doubled in women who had high concentrations of commercially produced nonstick chemicals polluting their blood.
- Life
Nemo could get lost again as seawater approaches acidity
Reef fish raised at a seawater pH expected for the year 2100 don't smell their way around normally.
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- Life
Whipping fluids along in microlabs
Researchers have detailed one way for hairlike structures to drive liquid in a "lab on a chip."
- Life
Serotonin turns shy locusts into cereal killers
Serotonin can turn solitary locusts into swarming biblical-scale crop destroyers.
