Science Times: Meet the Bloodsuckers

Plus: Fossils Show How Mammals Raced to Fill Dinosaurs' Void —

View in browser|nytimes.com October 29, 2019

Yawar Nazir/Getty Images   Meet the Bloodsuckers Vampires get all the attention at this time of year, but bloodthirsty leeches, insects and birds are just as compelling — and they're real. By James Gorman

HHMI Tangled Bank Studios   Colorado Fossils Show How Mammals Raced to Fill Dinosaurs' Void An unusually rich trove found in Colorado reveals the world in which our mammalian forebears evolved into larger creatures. By Nicholas St. Fleur João Araújo   Matter After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode The life cycle of Ophiocordyceps is like something from a sci-fi movie: "You think, where the hell did that come from?" By Carl Zimmer Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images   Global Health Scientists Were Hunting for the Next Ebola. Now the U.S. Has Cut Off Their Funding. Predict, a government research program, sought to identify animal viruses that might infect humans and to head off new pandemics. By Donald G. McNeil Jr.

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Google   Google Claims a Quantum Breakthrough That Could Change Computing Scientists at a company lab said they had taken a big step toward creating a machine that would make today's supercomputers look like toys. By Cade Metz Mayo Clinic, via the New England Journal of Medicine   You Got a Brain Scan at the Hospital. Someday a Computer May Use It to Identify You. In a disturbing experiment, imaging and facial recognition technologies were used to match research subjects to their M.R.I. scans. By Gina Kolata Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor, via Associated Press   Some Lab Chimps May Never Retire to a Sanctuary A panel of veterinarians has determined that 44 chimpanzees at a New Mexico facility are too ill to be moved to a new home. By James Gorman Factofoto/Alamy   It's One of Autumn's Best Scents, but Not Everyone Smells It Foliage is lovely, but so is the odor of the katsura, also known as the "caramel tree." By JoAnna Klein Harvard University   Trilobites Growing Meat in a Lab That Doesn't Look Like Mush In their quest to make a lab-grown steak, researchers devised a form of scaffolding made with gelatin. By Knvul Sheikh

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trilobites Happy as a Crab That Just Finished a Maze Crustaceans experienced in running a labyrinth made it to the finish line — and their prize — without wrong turns. by veronique greenwood Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to Partner With 3 Companies on NASA Moon Lander The start-up launched by the Amazon founder will work with three older space companies in its bid to carry American astronauts back to the lunar surface. by kenneth chang Woodie Flowers, Who Made Science a Competitive Sport, Dies at 75 His hands-on methods of teaching mechanical engineering at M.I.T. made him a star on campus (and on PBS) and led to student contests on a global scale. by glenn rifkin Robert Provine, an Authority on Laughter, Is Dead at 76 A psychology professor, he set about trying to understand what triggers giggles and guffaws and wrote a definitive book on the subject. He could also make you laugh. by benedict carey John T. Tate, Familiar Name in the World of Numbers, Dies at 94 Many of his explanations of fundamental ideas now bear his name, a much-honored one among mathematicians. by kenneth chang

CLIMATE CHANGE Josh Edelson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   A Forecast for a Warming World: Learn to Live With Fire The Kincade fire is burning more than 10,000 acres in California. Other areas of the country are experiencing drought so understanding fire is becoming ever more important.  By Thomas Fuller and Kendra Pierre-Louis Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times   Trump Administration to Begin Official Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord President Trump is preparing to formally withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, beginning a yearlong countdown removing the world's largest economy from the landmark agreement. By Lisa Friedman

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HEALTH Jialun Deng   Doctors Should Family Members See Patients Die in the I.C.U.? Studies suggest that relatives don't distract the medical team or interfere with decision-making when a patient is in cardiac arrest. By Daniela J. Lamas, M.D. Shahzaib Akber/EPA, via Shutterstock   Two Strains of Polio Are Gone, but the End of the Disease Is Still Far Off Only polio virus Type 1 persists, and only in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But now mutant vaccine viruses are paralyzing some unvaccinated children. By Donald G. McNeil Jr. Karsten Moran for The New York Times   When the Menu Turns Raw, Your Gut Microbes Know What to Do Before scientists tested the effects of some dietary changes on the microbiome, they ordered a special menu from a chef-turned-chemist. By Veronique Greenwood Illustration by Ori Toor   Studies Show Why Isn't There a Diet That Works for Everyone? Obesity is a population-size crisis in Western countries — but it's a problem that may resist population-wide solutions. By Kim Tingley Jaime Jacob   Living With Cancer Using A.I. to Transform Breast Cancer Care Just as computers can predict your shopping habits, researchers are using them to map the medical history of cancer patients to predict and treat the disease, and possibly to prevent it. By Susan Gubar Alamy   Women Should Be Warned of Breast Implant Hazards, F.D.A. Says The agency proposed that surgeons discuss the risks with patients and that manufacturers print bold warnings on the device packaging. By Roni Caryn Rabin

Is Crispr the Next Antibiotic? In nature, the gene-editing tool Crispr protects bacteria against viruses. Now it's being harnessed in the fight against superbugs and the flu. by knvul sheikh That New Alzheimer's Drug? Don't Get Your Hopes Up Yet After declaring aducanumab a failure, the manufacturer now says the drug may help slow cognitive decline in certain patients. Some experts are skeptical. by gina kolata How to Break Out of the Children's Menu Trap A new book on children's food offers suggestions on how to encourage healthful eating. by anahad o'connor How Children Get Hooked on Sugary Drinks Misleading marketing and labeling may confuse parents about the health value of many juices, a new report finds. by andrew jacobs global health New TB Vaccine Could Save Millions of Lives, Study Suggests There are 10 million new cases each year of tuberculosis, now the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. Even a partly effective vaccine could help turn the tide. by donald g. mcneil jr.

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