Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Virus versus virus
Customized RNA snippets delivered by a harmless virus could someday provide a new way to combat the hepatitis B virus.
- Climate
Goldilocks tree leaves
Leaves mostly keep their cool (or warmth) wherever they live, a finding that might affect reconstructions of past climates.
- Physics
Life’s code in soap
The mathematics of soapy water yields some clues to the origin of the genetic code.
- Physics
Suction hunters
Scientists reveal new details on how extendable jaws help fish capture prey.
- Health & Medicine
Thanks for the pounds, Mom
When inherited from mom, a gene linked to obesity and diabetes interferes with blood sugar metabolism.
- Animals
Invasion of the salmon
Chinook salmon, dwindling in the United States, go wild in South America.
- Paleontology
Ancient burrows
Triassic-era sediments unearthed in Antarctica reveal the well-preserved lair of a four-legged, mammal-like reptile.
- Paleontology
A mammoth divide
Woolly mammoths roamed Siberia in two distinct clans, and the split between the groups, scientists say, is surprisingly deep, occurring more than 1 million years ago.
- Life
Simple body, complex blueprints
Genes key to the development of modern animals' body plans show up in primitive-looking comb jellies.
- Health & Medicine
Wake up and smell the java
The smell of coffee leads to changes in gene activity in sleep-deprived rats, hinting at the molecular basis for the relaxing effect of the aroma seen in experiments.
- Health & Medicine
Nabbing suspicious SNPs
Scientists search the whole genome for clues to common diseases.
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