Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Compass creatures
Herds of grazing and resting deer and cattle tend to align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field, a hint that the large mammals can somehow sense the invisible field.
- Life
Finding health in fragility
A unifying principle for protein networks' weaknesses could aid development of new drugs.
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- Health & Medicine
How mice smell fear
Mice may use a cluster of neurons known as the Grueneberg ganglion to detect alarm pheromones.
- Earth
Deep sea viruses are an unexpected ringer
Deep-sea vent waters harbor high numbers virus-carrying bacteria. The viruses may actually help the bacteria survive the harsh vent environments.
- Life
Ground squirrels use ‘armpit effect’
Hibernating ground squirrels forget who’s who, so thank goodness for the armpit effect.
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- Health & Medicine
Immune cells show long-term memory
Survivors of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic still make antibodies against the virus, revealing a long-lived immunity previously thought impossible.
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- Archaeology
Saharan surprise
A chance discovery in the Sahara leads to the excavation of a Stone Age cemetery containing remains from two lakeside cultures.
- Ecosystems
Slave ants rebel
Species vulnerable to enslavement may evolve ways to fight their captors.
- Ecosystems
Coastal dead zones expanding
The number of coastal areas known as dead zones is on the rise. A new tally reports more than 400 of the oxygen starved regions worldwide.
