Life

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. 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.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Inflammation-blocking cells might fight often-fatal sepsis

    Treatment saved young and old mice from overactive immune response to infection.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. Animals

    Aboriginal lizard hunting boosts kangaroo numbers

    An aboriginal technique for hunting lizards with fire in Western Australia feeds wallaroo populations.

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  6. Neuroscience

    Prosthesis uses swinging arms to tell legs when to step

    Device creates artificial neural connection that could help paralyzed people walk.

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  7. 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.

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  8. Animals

    New dolphin species gets a name

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

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  9. 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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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12. Psychology

    Feedback

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

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