Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
‘Tree farts’ contribute about a fifth of greenhouse gases from ghost forests
Greenhouse gases from dead trees play an important role in the overall environmental impact of ghost forests, a new study suggests.
- Animals
Mammal brains may use the same circuits to control tongues and limbs
When mice drink water, they make corrective motions with their tongues that resemble similar adjustments made by primates when they grab for objects.
- Life
European fire ant chemicals may send spiders scurrying away
Black widows and some other common spider species avoid spaces where fire ants once roamed, suggesting the insects could inspire a spider repellent.
- Animals
The U.S.’s first open-air genetically modified mosquitoes have taken flight
After a decade of argument, Oxitec pits genetically modified mosquitoes against Florida’s spreaders of dengue and Zika.
- Animals
Elephants are dying in droves in Botswana. Scientists don’t know why
Some type of pathogen may be behind the recent deaths of 39 elephants, a new wave that follows 350 deaths last summer.
- Neuroscience
Brain implants turn imagined handwriting into text on a screen
A person who was paralyzed from the neck down was able to communicate, thanks to brain-to-text technology.
- Neuroscience
Scientists remotely controlled the social behavior of mice with light
New devices — worn as headsets and backpacks — rely on optogenetics, in which bursts of light toggle neurons, to control mouse brain activity.
- Animals
A common antibiotic slows a mysterious coral disease
Applying the antibiotic amoxicillin to infected lesions halted tissue death in corals for at least 11 months after treatment.
- Neuroscience
Mild zaps to the brain can boost a pain-relieving placebo effect
By sending electric current into the brain, scientists can enhance the pain-relieving placebo effect and dampen the pain-inducing nocebo effect.
- Paleontology
T. rex’s incredible biting force came from its stiff lower jaw
T. rex could generate incredibly strong bite forces thanks to a boomerang-shaped bone that stiffened the lower jaw, a new analysis suggests.
- Microbes
These climate-friendly microbes recycle carbon without producing methane
A newly discovered group of single-celled archaea break down decaying plants without adding the greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere.
- Life
Some viruses thwart bacterial defenses with a unique genetic alphabet
DNA has four building blocks: A, C, T and G. But some bacteriophages swap A for Z, and scientists have figured out how and why they do it.
