The Big Picture The Human Genome Project was a landmark global scientific effort whose signature goal was to generate the first sequence of the human genome. In 2003, the Human…
Category: Life
This spider uses trapped fireflies to lure in more prey
Sometimes fireflies shouldn’t follow the light. A single flash from a female usually helps male Abscondita terminalis fireflies find her among tall grasses at dusk. Males are showier, giving…
Digital Swiping Increases Boredom, Reduces Video Enjoyment
Summary: Swiping through online videos to alleviate boredom may actually make people more bored and less satisfied with the content, according to new research. The study found that switching between…
Pitch Perfect: Singing Earworms Reveals Surprising Trait
Summary: Researchers discovered that nearly 45% of people sing earworms in perfect pitch, suggesting a hidden “perfect pitch” ability in the general population. Even without formal musical training, participants accurately…
Muscle Proteins Trigger Desire for Exercise
Summary: A new study reveals that certain muscle proteins activated during exercise can increase the desire to stay active, shedding light on a muscle-brain signaling pathway. The research suggests that…
This spiky fossil shows what early mollusks looked like
An animal that could be mistaken for a spiky fruit is giving scientists a peek into what mollusks looked like around 500 million years ago. Fossils of an ancient invertebrate…
Why Are We Drawn to Events Focused on Death and Disaster?
Summary: Researchers have developed a new framework to understand why people are fascinated by events centered around themes of death, disaster, and suffering. These “dark events” include everything from historical…
Mosquito massacre: Can we safely tackle malaria with a CRISPR gene drive?
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing quickly decimated two caged populations of malaria-bearing mosquitoes (Anopheles gambiae) in a recent study, introducing a new way to solve an age-old problem. But the paper describing…
Above- and belowground strategies of tropical montane tree species are coordinated and driven by small-scale nitrogen availability – Functional Ecologists
In our last post Kerstin Pierick, postdoc at the University of Göttingen, discusses her last PhD thesis chapter ‘Above- and belowground strategies of tropical montane tree species are coordinated and…
How the Brain Learns to Make Inferences
Summary: Researchers have uncovered how the brain processes inferential reasoning by recording neuron activity in individuals as they learned through trial and error. The study revealed that specific brain regions,…
