Genetics
Bizarre Mini Brains Offer a Fascinating New Look at the Brain
Brain balls sound like something straight out of a Tim Burton movie: starting as stem cells harvested from patients, they eventually develop into masses of living neurons, jumbled together in misshapen blobs.
Just like the...
These Cells Are Engineered to Be Controlled by a Smartphone
To Dr. Mark Gomelsky, a professor at the University of Wyoming, genetically engineered therapeutic cells are like troops on a mission.
The first act is training. Using genetic editing tools such as CRISPR, scientists can...
CRISPR Pill May Be Key in Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance
Even since Alexander Fleming stumbled across penicillin—the first antibiotic drug—scientists knew our fight with evolution was on.
Most antibiotics work by blocking biological processes that allow bacteria to thrive and multiply. With prolonged, low-dosage use,...
Gene Editing Might Change What Being Human Actually Means
Attempts to distill the essence of “selfhood” have occupied philosophers for centuries. Consensus has been fleeting at best, but is likely to get even harder as genetic tools allow us to tweak our bodies...
The Future of Food: To GMO or Not To GMO?
An organic diet has never been more in style than it is right now, with millions of consumers willing to shell out extra dollars for organic foods. Most of us have a vague idea...
Old Mice Made Young Again With New Anti-Aging Drug
There’s something eerily dystopian about the lives of cells.
Like the young heroes in popular teen novels, cells are born into stringent organ “societies,” destined to perform specific roles preordained by their DNA expression. Like...
How to Feed 9.7 Billion People? CRISPR Gene Editing For Crops
It’s no secret that we’re going to struggle to feed the rapidly expanding global population. New genome editing technologies could hold the answer, according to scientists.
The number of humans on this planet is expected...
The Rise of a New Species of Human Being
Today, what survives on Earth can be determined entirely by human beings. We can alter the genetics of almost any life form and potentially design entirely new ones. According to renowned physicist Freeman Dyson,...
The Weird World of Cyborg Animals Is Here
Roboticists frequently turn to nature for inspiration for their inventions, reverse engineering the traits that evolution has developed over millennia. Others are taking a shortcut by simply integrating modern technology with living animals.
The idea...
Long Extinct Species to Be Revived in the Lab With Powerful New Tools
Bringing extinct species back to life isn’t a science fiction fantasy anymore, even if the technology isn’t quite ready for prime time.
The newest buzz around the topic of de-extinction is actually a revival of...
How Fully Synthetic Complex Life Just Got a Lot Closer
From domestication to selective breeding and right up to DNA editing, humans have long sought to bend the genetic makeup of animals and plants to our needs. Now an international team has taken a...
Natural Selection Is About to Be Overpowered by the First-Ever Mammalian Gene Drive
The year is 2050. The place, New Zealand. Technological advances have dramatically changed the lives of the island’s human inhabitants, but on first blush, its animals remain untouched.
Except for one curious thing: all invasive...
