Science of the Future
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
‘Unrandom selection’: CRISPR merged with AI (artificial intelligence) may change what it means to be human
Modern medicine and rapidly advancing technology have seen us greatly evolve from the early days of hunter-gatherers, and now the ...
Perfecting microbes to biomanufacture cells like computer chips
[Researcher Alec] Nielsen heads a startup called Asimov that is trying to automate the design of sophisticated genetic modifications. Its software, called ...
Pinpointing time of death for crime victims may be possible through our genes
Thanks to an extensive new survey of gene activity in human tissue after death, computational biologists have taken the first ...
End of cavities: We may soon be able to regrow our teeth
Currently, the primary way to treat a cavity is to excavate the decay and the surrounding area before filling the ...
State of mind: Will computers learn to act and think like we do?
The technology that drives artificial intelligence is constantly moving forward. But will machines every gain the human equivalent of a ...
Harnessing evolution for space travel: Using biomimicry to recreate life on Mars
[E]volution has had billions of years of trial and error to produce species that are well adapted chemically and physically ...
Using DNA to store data? US defense agency DARPA is trying
[T]he Department of Defense agency tasked with funding science’s most far-out hopes has begun investing millions in discovering radical, non-binary ...
Podcast: What if we could use artificial wombs to save premature babies?
Ectogenesis, that is the gestation outside of a biological womb, sounds like science fiction. But one of the top stories ...
Searching for alien life: Maybe we should start with extraterrestrial viruses
One possibility for what might be out there that’s, relatively speaking, one of the most plausible theories has so far ...
‘Animal uplift’: Could we—and should we—make animals smarter?
Advances in neural implants and genetic engineering suggest that in the not–too–distant future we may be able to boost human intelligence. If that’s ...
Mars in 15 years? Not without overcoming 3 big challenges
Editor's note: Zahaan Bharmal is the Head of Marketing Strategic Communications at Google and has a degree in Physics from ...
Neuroevolution: Artificial intelligence learns by adapting and evolving
[An] old idea—improving neural networks not through teaching, but through evolution—is revealing its potential. Five new papers from Uber in San Francisco, California, ...
‘Bioprinting’ body parts could become a reality—if we clear some hurdles
Printed replacement human body parts might seem like science fiction, but this technology is rapidly becoming a reality with the ...
Extending human life: What are the age limits?
How long do you want to live - to 85, 90, 100 or beyond? More important than how long we ...
Is speculation about alien life legitimate science? Or merely a distraction?
Speculation about extraterrestrials seems to be everywhere these days. [Recently] it was “Tabby’s Star” (more officially known as KIC 8462852), ...
Could our microbiome offer diet advice? Edible sensors look inside our digestive system
Wouldn’t it be nice if our microbiomes could serve up diet advice—some science-based assurance that our food and medicines act ...
Google’s deep-learning Alpha Zero masters chess from scratch in 4 hours––then doesn’t lose
The architecture that beat humans at the notoriously CPU-impervious game Go, AlphaGo by Google Deep Mind, was converted to allow ...
How living GMO algae could electrify rural Africa
Fuel cells powered by living algae that are five times more efficient than current models, have been designed by scientists ...
Designer proteins could help us fight flu, remove gluten from foods
[Researchers have] been stumped by one great mystery: how the building blocks in a protein take their final shape. David ...
Artificial intelligence: How can we regulate without stifling innovation?
There is disagreement among some of the top minds in technology when it comes to the subject of regulating artificial ...
Deep learning: Google wants to use retinal photos to predict blood pressure, age, smoking status
Eyes are said to be the window to the soul—but researchers at Google see them as indicators of a person’s ...
‘Junk DNA’: Mining our genome’s dark matter for new disease treatments
The term junk DNA was used to describe sequences that that do not code for proteins. Largely ignored by researchers, ...
Could we fight HIV with new Car-T therapy?
The same kind of DNA tinkering that produced the first FDA-approved gene therapy for cancer has shown hints of suppressing and even ...
Saudi Arabia requires premarital genetic screening. How is it working out?
In Saudi Arabia, if you’re planning to tie the knot, there’s a step you must go through that doesn’t happen ...
Balancing cancer detection and finding false positives: Enhancing tumor imaging technology provides guidance
Many forms of cancer go undetected until a later stage, making them hard to treat and putting patients at greater ...
Male pregnancy may be closer than you think
As women begin to receive uterine transplants, the question is being asked of when they will be available for men ...
Typing directly from your brain, and other neuroscience technologies to watch in 2018
Here are three fast-moving areas of neuroscience we’ll be watching in 2018: … [S]cientists at Brown University are developing salt-grain-sized ...
