Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Fossil helps document shift from sea to land
New fossils of an ancient, four-limbed creature help fill in the blanks of the evolutionary transition between fish and the first land-adapted vertebrates.
- Plants
Move it or lose it
Climate change may have dire consequences for California’s native plants, which may need to take refuge in some the areas under pressure for development.
- Animals
Don’t blame the guys
Scientists take a new look at what drives female damselflies to look like males.
- Health & Medicine
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Epigenetic shifts continue throughout a person’s lifetime, and the overall pattern of these shifts appears similar within families.
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- Ecosystems
On Whales’ Appetites: What a Waste
An advocacy group and renowned scientist floundered in an attempt to compel opinion shapers with the science showing that industrial fleets, not whales, pose a serious threat to fish stocks.
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- Humans
Whaling back to the future
International commission meets after soul-searching on years of dispute.
- Life
When cells go quiet
Connections between nerve cells may be lost when communication between the cells lapses.
- Plants
Forest invades tundra
The Arctic tundra is under assault from trees, with serious implications for global climate change.
- Chemistry
Catching your breath
Scientists are investigating how to use the human breath to diagnose diseases and environmental ills.
- Animals
Peril of play
A new study shows that playful 2-year-old chimpanzees may be particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases — some caught from humans.
