With obesity rates among youngsters remaining high, the American Academy of Pediatrics took a drastic step by recommending cholesterol-testing for kids as young as 2. The move is targeted at children whose families have a history of elevated cholesterol and who might benefit from cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins. Some doctors view the move as a defense against the possibility of a generation of unhealthy kids living shorter lives than their parents did. Others worry that the policy could expand the use of statins to kids without giving them the chance to make tough changes in the behaviors that led to their weight and cholesterol problems in the first place.
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.