Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    The mere sight of illness may kick-start a canary’s immune system

    Healthy canaries ramp up their immune systems when exposed to visibly sick birds, without actually being infected themselves.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    FDA approved a new Alzheimer’s drug despite controversy over whether it works

    A new Alzheimer's treatment slows progression of the disease, the drug’s developers say. But some researchers question its effectiveness.

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  3. Plants

    These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants

    Staghorn ferns grow in massive colonies where individual plants contribute different jobs. This may make them “eusocial,” like ants or termites.

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  4. Paleontology

    Something mysteriously wiped out about 90 percent of sharks 19 million years ago

    Deep sediments beneath the Pacific Ocean revealed a mystery: a massive shark die-off with no obvious cause.

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  5. Animals

    Newly recognized tricks help elephants suck up huge amounts of water

    New ultrasound imaging reveals what goes on inside a pachyderm’s trunk while feeding. It can snort water at the rate of 24 shower heads.

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  6. Life

    Even hard-to-kill tardigrades can’t always survive being shot out of a gun

    A recent experiment put tardigrades’ indestructibility to the test by firing the critters at speeds up to 1,000 meters per second.

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  7. Animals

    The teeth of ‘wandering meatloaf’ contain a rare mineral found only in rocks

    The hard, magnetic teeth of the world’s largest chiton contain nanoparticles of santabarbaraite, a mineral never seen before in biology.

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  8. Chemistry

    A sweet father-son bond inspires tasty new molecule models

    New edible models of proteins could spark students’ interest in the world of chemistry, especially students who are blind.

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  9. Neuroscience

    Playing brain training games regularly doesn’t boost brainpower

    Comparing brain training program users with those who don’t do the mini brain workouts, scientists found no proof that the regimens boosted brainpower.

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  10. Animals

    Gray wolves scare deer from roads, reducing dangerous collisions

    The predators use roads as travel corridors, creating “a landscape of fear” that keeps deer away and saves millions of dollars a year, a study finds.

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  11. Genetics

    A gene-based therapy partially restored a blind man’s vision

    Light-activated proteins inserted in eye nerve cells and special goggles help the man, who lost his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa, see objects.

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  12. Animals

    Urchin mobs team up to butcher sea stars that prey on them

    Urchins are important herbivores in nearshore ecosystems, but are not strict vegetarians, with hunger that extends even to munching predatory nemeses.

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