Life
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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- Genetics
Top genomes of 2013
Scientists continue to decode the genetic blueprints of the planet’s myriad flora and fauna.
By Beth Mole - Microbes
Microscopic menagerie
The microbes dwelling in and on multicellular organisms should be viewed as evolutionarily inseparable from their hosts, some biologists argue.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Mother lode
Certain sugar molecules in human breast milk do more to foster beneficial microbes, and banish harmful ones, than they do to nourish newborns.
- Microbes
The vast virome
When it comes to the microbiome, bacteria get all the press. But virologists are starting to realize that their subjects also do a lot more than make people sick.
- Life
Year in Review: Gift of steroids keeps on giving
Mouse muscles stay juiced long after doping ends.
- Animals
Year in Review: Odd cicada history emerges
Brood II returns better understood.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Year in Review: Canine genealogy
Competing clues confuse the story of dog domestication.
By Meghan Rosen -
- Neuroscience
Year in Review: Obama unveils brain initiative
In April, the president announced an ambitious plan to reveal the human brain’s secrets.
- Animals
A year of rediscovered species
Thousands of species go extinct each year, but at least a few are found after many years of being lost.
- Neuroscience
Bad memories fade with a short jolt
Research illustrates the vulnerability of the brain’s information storage.