Life

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We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    New dolphin species gets a name

    A species of humpback dolphin from Australia has now received its proper name.

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  2. Life

    Animal source of Ebola outbreak eludes scientists

    Researchers are trying to determine whether bats or bush meat transmitted the Ebola virus to people in West Africa.

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  3. Life

    Grizzly bears master healthy obesity

    Tuned insulin signals explain how grizzly bears can fatten up for hibernation in the winter without developing diabetes.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Music soothes the aging brain in film ‘Alive Inside’

    A social worker highlighted in a new documentary goes on a quest to bring tunes to nursing homes.

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  5. Psychology

    Feedback

    Readers way in on slacktivism, cockroaches, dinosaur tracks and more.

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  6. Neuroscience

    For neurons, birthday matters

    How brain cells make their connections during development still isn’t well understood. A new study shows that in the eye, a neuron’s birthday makes a difference in how it finds its targets.

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  7. Computing

    Brain-inspired computer chip mimics 1 million neurons

    By processing data in parallel, computer chips modeled after the human brain could perform certain tasks, such as pattern recognition, faster and more energy-efficiently than traditional computers.

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  8. Animals

    Here’s your chance to see the last passenger pigeon

    On display for the 100th anniversary of her species’ extinction, the final passenger pigeon specimen looks pretty good.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    New tests screen for lethal prion disease

    Urine and nasal swabs can detect small amounts of the abnormal prions that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

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  10. Animals

    Octomom and six other extreme animal parents

    The octopus that brooded her young for 4.5 years is just the start when it comes to tales of extreme parenting.

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  11. Computing

    Barrel jellyfish may hunt with new kind of math

    Barrel jellyfish use a new type of mathematical movement pattern to forage for food, a new study suggests.

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  12. Life

    Airborne transmission of Ebola unlikely, monkey study shows

    No evidence found of macaque monkeys passing deadly virus to each other.

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