2009 Science News of the Year: Life

Breeding records for sheep on Hirta offer an unusual opportunity to study inheritance. Image Credit: Arpat Ozgul
Breeding records for sheep on Hirta offer an unusual opportunity to study inheritance. Image Credit: Arpat Ozgul

Gentler winters shrink sheep
Warming has trumped the benefits of fat to shrink sheep on the remote North Atlantic island of Hirta, a new analytical approach has revealed (SN: 8/1/09, p.