Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
First Frog without Lungs
An aquatic frog in fast-flowing water in Borneo turns out to be the first frog species with no lungs.
- Animals
Antibiotic Alligator: Promising proteins lurk in reptile blood
Scientists are zeroing in on alligator blood proteins that show promise for fighting disease-causing microbes.
- Animals
Robin stole credit for Batman’s deeds
Bats turn out to be overlooked but significant eaters of insects, pests and other arthropods on shade-grown coffee farms and in tropical forests.
- Animals
Comb jellies take root in a new tree of animal life
A team of biologists places comb jellies, not sponges, at the base of a new tree of animal life.
- Paleontology
Salty Old Cellulose: Tiny fibers found in ancient halite deposits
Researchers have recovered microscopic bits of cellulose from 253-million-year-old salt deposits deep underground.
- Animals
Night Flights: Migrating moths may use a nighttime compass
Silver Y moths choose to fly when wind blows in the same direction that they migrate, and they may even compensate when the wind pushes them off-course.
- Health & Medicine
Refugee Polio Scare Can Be Costly
There can be hidden, and substantial, costs to polio outbreaks among immigrant refugees.
- Ecosystems
Refugee Policy Needs a Shot in the Arm
Sometimes spending a little money on vaccinations up front can save a bundle down the line.
- Animals
Farm girl has the chops
The first big family tree presenting the history of fungus-growing ants shows the leaf-cutters as the newest branch, and a very recent one at that.
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- Plants
Floral Shocker: Blooms shake roots of flowering-plant family
A tiny aquatic plant, once thought to be related to grasses, raises new questions about the evolution of the earliest flowering plants.
- Animals
Finch Concerts: Female bird brain notes male attention
Male zebra finches sing slightly differently when serenading a female as opposed to twittering to themselves, and females react to those differences.
