Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
How to get a crying baby to sleep, according to science
Science has come up with a recipe for lulling a crying baby to sleep: Carry them for five minutes, sit for at least five more and then lay them down.
- Neuroscience
Emily Jacobs wants to know how sex hormones sculpt the brain
Emily Jacobs studies how the brain changes throughout women’s reproductive years, plus what it all means for health.
- Life
Marcos Simões-Costa asks how cells in the embryo get their identities
Marcos Simões-Costa combines classic studies of developing embryos with the latest genomic techniques.
- Science & Society
Big questions inspire the scientists on this year’s SN 10 list
These scientists to watch study climate change, alien worlds, human evolution, the coronavirus and more.
- Paleontology
Ancient fish fossils highlight the strangeness of our vertebrate ancestors
New fossils are revealing the earliest jawed vertebrates — a group that encompasses 99 percent of all living vertebrates on Earth, including humans.
- Ecosystems
‘Fen, Bog & Swamp’ reminds readers why peatlands matter
In her latest book, author Annie Proulx chronicles people’s long history with peatlands and examines the ecological value of these overlooked places.
- Ecosystems
A Caribbean island gets everyone involved in protecting beloved species
Scientists on Saba are introducing island residents to conservation of Caribbean orchids, red-billed tropicbirds and urchins.
- Life
Has AlphaFold actually solved biology’s protein-folding problem?
An AI called AlphaFold predicted structures for nearly every protein known to science. Those predictions aren’t without limits, some researchers say.
- Animals
After eons of isolation, these desert fish flub social cues
Pahrump poolfish flunked a fear test, but maybe they’re scared of other things.
- Animals
Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds
Woodpeckers drum on trees and other objects using brain regions similar to those that songbirds use to sing, suggesting a common evolutionary origin for the complex behaviors.
- Animals
Video shows the first red fox known to fish for food
Big fish in shallow water are easy pickings for one fox — the first of its kind known to fish, a study finds.
- Life
Here’s what triggers giant honeybees to do the wave
A new study is revealing details about what sets off a defensive behavior in open-nesting bees known as shimmering.
