Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Paleontology
Giant camel-like creatures lived thousands of years longer than once thought
Fossilized teeth from two ancient megafauna suggest they roamed Brazil 3,500 years ago. The find “opens the door to rewrite South American history.”
- Animals
How a mushroom coral goes for a walk without legs
Time-lapse video shows how a mushroom coral polyp pulses and inflates, flinging its soft body into micro-hops to slowly move itself to a new location.
- Animals
In a first, zebra cams reveal herds on the move with giraffes
Six zebras wore video cameras attached to collars, capturing the equines’ daily life. Sticking with giraffes may let the two species protect each other.
- Plants
A bacteria-based Band-Aid helps plants heal their wounds
Recent research into bacterial cellulose patches may speed plants' recovery, improve grafting and help with preservation.
- Health & Medicine
Ozempic’s key ingredient may reduce the desire to drink alcohol
In the first clinical trial of its kind, people taking semaglutide drank less alcohol, adding to its promise of fighting addiction.
- Animals
Migrating whale sharks make pit stops at oil and gas rigs
Human-made structures act as artificial reefs, luring plankton and, in turn, Earth’s largest fish. That could put whale sharks at risk of ship strikes.
- Neuroscience
Wiggling ears may have once helped us hear
These ancient ear muscles may provide a readout of a person's hearing efforts.
- Animals
A fungus named after Sir David Attenborough zombifies cave spiders
The new fungus species Gibellula attenboroughii forces reclusive cave spiders to exposed areas, likely to benefit spore dispersal.
- Health & Medicine
A man volunteered to get brain implants for depression. Hear his story
In the first episode of The Deep End Podcast, we meet Jon Nelson, who shares why he volunteered to get brain implants for his relentless depression.
- Animals
Cuttlefish ink may overwhelm sharks’ sense of smell
The main component of common cuttlefish ink — melanin — strongly sticks to shark smell sensors, possibly explaining why the predators avoid ink.
- Animals
This bird’s eye view of a shark hunt won a photo contest
A snapshot of blacktip reef sharks hunting hardyhead silverside fish won the 2024 Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition.
- Health & Medicine
A second version of bird flu is infecting cows. What does that mean?
While the risk to humans of exposure from cows or milk remains low, this new flu spillover from birds into cows raises the need for continued surveillance.
