Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Year in review: Microbe discoveries spur rethink of treetop of life
Microbes discovered in Arctic mud this year could be the closest relatives yet found to the single-celled ancestor that made life so complicated.
- Genetics
Year in review: Epigenome makes its debut
The Roadmap Epigenomics Project, unveiled in February 2015, is the first in a series of 3-D looks at the human genome.
- Neuroscience
Year in review: Alzheimer’s protein behaves like a prion
Under rare conditions, an Alzheimer’s-related protein may have jumped between people, scientists reported this year.
- Genetics
Year in review: Cancer genetics grows up
Researchers looking for mutations linked to cancer have found that not all genetic alterations should be targeted equally.
- Animals
Year in review: Woes of artificial lighting add up for wildlife
Studies published this year add dodging death, flirting and mothering to the tasks that artificial light can discombobulate in wild animals.
- Neuroscience
Year in review: ‘Speed cells’ help make navigation possible
The discovery of speed cells in the brain filled in a missing piece in the understanding of how the brain creates an internal map of the world.
- Animals
Year in review: New dates, place proposed for dogs’ beginnings
This year’s dog research suggested older origins and a new location of domestication for man's best friend.
- Genetics
Year in review: Fluke extinction surprises lab
A die-off of bacteria in a carefully controlled lab experiment offered an evolutionary lesson this year: Survival depends not only on fitness but also on luck.
- Neuroscience
Year in review: Gaps in brain nets might store memories
Holes in nets that surround nerve cells may store long-term memories, scientists proposed this year.
- Life
Science explains what makes dogs such sloppy drinkers
There’s hidden precision in the splashy mess of a dog drinking.
- Animals
Forgetful male voles more likely to wander from mate
Poor memory linked to a hormone receptor in the brain could make male prairie voles more promiscuous.
- Plants
Single gene influences a petunia’s primary pollinator
Mutations on a single gene determine how much ultraviolet light a petunia flower absorbs, and in turn, which animal pollinates the flower.
