Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Antibiotics in infancy may cause obesity in adults
By altering the microbiome of infant mice, drugs predisposed the animals to gain fat as adults.
- Health & Medicine
Inflammation-blocking cells might fight often-fatal sepsis
Treatment saved young and old mice from overactive immune response to infection.
- Physics
Common motion emerges in swarms of only 10 midges
A swarm of midges may start to fly as a collective group with as few as 10 individuals, a new study shows.
- Neuroscience
Neurons in silk scaffold mimic behaviors of a real brain
Proteins of silkworm cocoons can form the scaffold for a three-dimensional model of a brain.
- Animals
Aboriginal lizard hunting boosts kangaroo numbers
An aboriginal technique for hunting lizards with fire in Western Australia feeds wallaroo populations.
- Neuroscience
Prosthesis uses swinging arms to tell legs when to step
Device creates artificial neural connection that could help paralyzed people walk.
- Neuroscience
Busy neurons don’t always draw blood
Study of mice suggests caution in inferring the activity of the brain’s neurons from functional MRI results.
- Animals
New dolphin species gets a name
A species of humpback dolphin from Australia has now received its proper name.
- 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.
- Life
Grizzly bears master healthy obesity
Tuned insulin signals explain how grizzly bears can fatten up for hibernation in the winter without developing diabetes.
- 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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