Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Brain
The pandemic prematurely aged teens’ brains
A small study showed certain structural changes that appeared three to four years early. Normally, premature aging of the brain is not a good sign.
- Animals
Bumblebees go out of their way to play
Young bumblebees roll wooden balls and go out of their way to do so. This suggests they play like other animals do.
- Animals
This parasite makes wolves more likely to become leaders
Gray wolves infected with Toxoplasma gondii make riskier decisions. This makes them more likely to become pack leaders or strike out on their own.
- Microbes
Mouth-crawling superbugs cause severe cavities in kids
In kids with severe tooth decay, fungi and bacteria team up to create superorganisms that can crawl across teeth.
- Archaeology
Neandertals were a lot like our human ancestors
From toolmaking to healthcare, new research finds that Neandertals shared many cultural and social similarities with our human ancestors.
- Fossils
Armored dinos may have used tail clubs to bash each other
Broken spikes on a fossil dino’s sides are consistent with the armored beast having received a mighty blow from another ankylosaur’s tail club.
- Animals
Tiny bumps on polar bear paws help them get traction on snow
Super-small structures on the Arctic animals’ paws might offer extra friction that keeps them from slipping on snow, a new study concludes.
- Environment
Microplastic pollution aids viruses and prolongs their infectivity
The tiny plastic bits give these germs safe havens. That protection seems to increase as the plastic ages and breaks into ever smaller pieces.
- Plants
Why dandelions are so good at widely spreading their seeds
Individual seeds on a dandelion release most easily in response to winds from a specific direction. As the wind shifts, this scatters the seeds widely.
- Animals
Study finds big drop in animal populations since 1970
But the same thing is not happening throughout the kingdom. For instance, more than half of vertebrate populations are stable or increasing.
- Health & Medicine
An asthma treatment may also help tame cat allergies
Adding a therapy used to treat asthma improved cat allergy symptoms for more than a year, a small study found.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Infection
Infections range from mild illnesses, such as the common cold, to deadly diseases, such as rabies.
