Properly performed, CPR can triple the chance that someone survives a heart attack, but even the best-trained Good Samaritans can have trouble finding the right rhythm and pace for the chest compressions. Unless, that is, they're disco fans. A 15-doctor study found that teaching CPR to the tune of the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive" (the snappy anthem of the movie Saturday Night Fever) helped students perform the compressions at the proper speed and pace on a test five weeks later. Who said disco was dead?
In good times and bad, science doesn't sleep, and every year brings breakthroughs, setbacks, reasons for worry and reasons for joy. TIME's annual alphabetical roundup of a sampling of those stories gives you an overview of the year behind and a hint of what might be in the one ahead.