Coral on the Great Barrier Reef – Toby Hudson CC 3.0. At the Australian Institute of Marine Science, artificial intelligence is being leveraged to help restore coral reefs after recent bleaching events. Following the autumn spawning season on the Great Barrier Reef, AIMS scientists are looking to give the corals a helping hand by dropping … Read more
Courtesy of Oliver Chu family The first child in history has successfully been treated with a new genetic therapy for an ultra-rare developmental defect called Hunter syndrome. Several years in the making, Oliver Chu became the first in the world to receive the stem cell-based treatment in February, and 3 months later seemed to be … Read more
– credit Marino Linic Scientists in Brazil are currently testing to see if the venom of an Amazonian scorpion could be used to poison breast cancer tumors. Researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Preto School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCFRP-USP) have long worked to clone and express proteins from rattlesnake and scorpion venom with hopes … Read more
Associate Professor Jonathan Boreyko – credit, Alex Parrish / Virginia Tech / SWNS There are large swaths of America where in order to have a safe drive into work, one has to start their car even before their coffee machine. Heating up a car and running the defrosters is a hugely energy intensive process, but … Read more
Dunpharlain, CC license Among the world’s manifold disease burdens, antibiotic resistant bacteria hold a special place of concern. But recent evidence points to the malaria parasite also developing resistance to drugs that have been working to killed it off for the last quarter-century. Therefore, news that a major drug trial looking at the efficacy of … Read more
Andrew Petrischev – unsplash A street lamp outside your window, the orange charging light on a plug adapter next to your nightstand, a flash of your phone late at night indicating you’ve received an email—these artificial light sources would never occur in nature, and recent studies suggest they harm your brain. Higher levels of artificial … Read more
– credit Riky Speaking two or more languages is associated with a reduced risk of accelerated aging, according to data from more than 86,000 people across 27 European countries. It’s yet another great reason to learn a new language, or bring up a child in a bilingual household. Previous research has proposed that multilingualism can … Read more
Hundreds of lead bricks were found in a ship that sunk between 50 and 80 BCE – credit, CUORE Collaboration and LNGS/INFN What do dark matter, the Roman Empire, and a toxic heavy metal have in common? The answer is Mr. Ettore Fiorini who helped excavate a 2,000-year-old shipwreck whose cargo of Roman lead bars … Read more
– credit, Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash An antibody-like compound known on land to be exclusively to be found in camelids like alpacas, lamas, and dromedaries, could be used to treat human brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study. The study’s focus were antibody-like proteins, aptly called nanobodies, whose small size … Read more
The earwig’s delicate, paper-thin wings can open 10x their folded size due to its origami-like creases – Credit: ETH Zurich / Purdue University (Article by Rohini Subrahmanyam originally published by Knowable Magazine) As the microscopic, tear-shaped Lacrymaria olor swims around hunting for food, it does something remarkable: In a blink, the tiny protist extends its … Read more