In the past they’ve taken cells out, edited them in a lab, then put them back. This time, researchers engineered a virus to make the edits directly inside the patient to fix blindness. “They hope to know within weeks whether […]
The question of what’s next after Lithium is a big one for the battery business. “Potassium metal batteries could offer a cheap, long-life alternative to lithium cells with similar energy density, but thus far they’ve been held back by dendrite […]
I find it interesting for two reasons. 1) The World Health Organization is getting involved to set standards for studies and promote good design like control groups and randomization. 2) Traditional Chinese medicine is being tested, which I appreciate because […]
Yet another way to harvest clean renewable energy from our environment. “Here we show that thin-film devices made from nanometre-scale protein wires harvested from the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens can generate continuous electric power in the ambient environment.” | learn more
“One emerging treatment for diabetes involves converting stem cells into beta cells that secrete insulin. Now scientists have developed a more efficient method, and implanting these cells in diabetic mice functionally cured them of the disease.” | learn more
“The discovery of the CPR [Candidate Phyla Radiation] superphylum was (and remains) one of the most remarkable developments in our growing realization that the genetic diversity of the microbial world is unimaginably vast.” It’s thought to contain a quarter of […]
This is a must-read for anyone with an interest in science who doesn’t already know all the gory details of its troubles. “This week, here are three intertwined stories about positional scarcity from this strange world: 1. How an “indentured […]
“…[T]he Wisconsin team used much smaller electrodes to precisely target the central lateral thalamus. They also designed the electrodes to match this region’s shape. When they flipped on the stimulation, it had an immediate effect on the monkeys.” | learn more
From birth to old age. National Geographic discusses how the relationship between us and our microbes changes over the various stages of life. [This might be paywalled now, but it worked for me somehow.] | learn more
“Researchers have discovered an immune T-cell with the ability to target a variety of different cancer cells while avoiding healthy cells.” | learn more