Life

  1. Animals

    Explainer: Animals’ role in human disease

    Wildlife, livestock and pets are the source of most germs that can sicken people

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  2. Brain

    Teen fighting may harm IQ

    Blows to the head may explain these effects on the brain.

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  3. Brain

    Fake memories

    A flash of light in the brain plants false memories.

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  4. Brain

    Nature resets body’s clock

    After a week in the wild, people went to bed — and got up — earlier.

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  5. Brain

    Full moon shortchanges sleep

    Lab experiments show people’s sleep suffers for a day or so every month.

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  6. Animals

    Dolphins name themselves

    They also answer to those chosen ‘names’

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  7. Fossils

    Tar pit bones yield climate clues

    During the last ice age, more than 12,000 years ago, many unusual creatures wandered Southern California. Some got trapped in tar pits there. Now, their preserved remains are providing scientists with clues about summer weather during that bygone era.

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  8. Animals

    Animals under Antarctic ice?

    Data suggest a web of lake organisms might thrive deep under ice; scientists struggle to make sense of the new report.

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  9. Microbes

    Some dirt won’t hurt

    It could even lower risks of serious allergic disease.

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  10. Environment

    Home, plastic home

    Some ocean life is moving into floating piles of plastic trash.

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  11. Brain

    Respecting the body’s clocks

    Daily rhythms affect everything from the time we wake to how well we perform in sports.

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  12. Brain

    Explainer: What is jet lag?

    Traveling across time zones can disrupt circadian rhythms.

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