Surviving on blood alone is no picnic. But a handful of genetic tweaks may have helped vampire bats evolve to become the only mammal known to feed exclusively on the…
Category: Life
Here’s how boa constrictors squeeze their dinner without suffocating themselves
The boa constrictor’s choke hold is an iconic animal attack. By coiling around its prey, a snake can squeeze the life out of a victim in mere minutes before gulping…
Forests help reduce global warming in more ways than one
When it comes to cooling the planet, forests have more than one trick up their trees. Tropical forests help cool the average global temperature by more than 1 degree…
Spinosaurus’ dense bones fuel debate over whether some dinosaurs could swim
A fierce group of predatory dinosaurs may have done much of their hunting in the water. An analysis of the bone density of several sharp-toothed spinosaurs suggests that several members…
How gene therapy overcame high-profile failures
Gene therapy pioneer Richard Jude Samulski remembers when he avoided the words “gene therapy.” In the mid-2000s, he told people he worked on “biological nanoparticles,” even attempting to trademark the…
What do we mean by ‘COVID-19 changes your brain’?
Like all writers, I spend large chunks of my time looking for words. When it comes to the ultracomplicated and mysterious brain, I need words that capture nuance and uncertainties.…
How a scientist-artist transformed our view of the brain
The Brain in Search of ItselfBenjamin EhrlichFarrar, Straus and Giroux, $35 Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal is known as the father of modern neuroscience. Cajal was the first to…
Some E. coli set off viral grenades inside nearby bacteria
Some bacteria can trigger unexploded viral grenades in neighboring bacteria’s DNA. Certain Escherichia coli bacteria, including some that live in human intestines, make a chemical called colibactin. That chemical awakens…
Fecal transplant pills helped some peanut allergy sufferers in a small trial
PHOENIX — Pills loaded with bacteria from other people’s poop might help adults who are highly allergic to peanuts safely eat the nuts in small amounts. In a small clinical…
Why kitchen sponges are the perfect home for bacteria
Ask bacteria where they’d like to live, and they’ll answer: a kitchen sponge, please. Sponges are microbe paradises, capable of housing 54 billion bacteria per cubic centimeter. In addition to…
