Science of the Future
Cutting calories likely lengthens lifespans—but why?
Nearly a century ago, researchers discovered that cutting calorie intake was actually able to extend lifespan in various animal species ...
Viewpoint: Is having children immoral?
[Editor's note: David Benatar is a professor of philosophy and head of the department of philosophy at the University of Cape Town, ...
Innovative CAR-T cancer treatments offer cures–and sometimes high risks
[T]here’s a reason CAR-T is reserved for [cancer] patients that fail to improve under front-line treatments: it comes with horrid side ...
Are we on the brink of another smallpox outbreak?
[Editor's note: Gregory Koblentz is a professor and director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at the Schar School of Policy and ...
Android intimacy: Drawing the line between science and human
Today, the technical ability to produce a robot that truly looks and moves and speaks like a human remains well ...
Genetically modified skin grafts could monitor glucose, end needle sticks for diabetes
Painful and inconvenient, needle sticks are part of daily life for many people with diabetes. Wouldn’t it be great if ...
First alien life forms we encounter could well be robots
[T]he first aliens we encounter are likely to be machines, and they’ll be almost unimaginably old. Susan Schneider of the ...
Why we shouldn’t be afraid of human gene editing
[Editor's note: Dave Gammon is an associate professor of biology at Elon University.] Many feel a visceral dread that scientists ...
Viewpoint: Overly strict human gene-editing regulations let patients suffer and die
[Editor’s note: Henry Miller is a physician and molecular biologist, and a Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He ...
We’re a long way from Blade Runner-like organic androids
[Editor's note: Fumiya Iida is a lecturer in mechatronics at the University of Cambridge.] The new Blade Runner sequel will return ...
Is sexual orientation ‘gaydar’ detection machine sound or ethical?
[Michal Kosinski] decided to show that it was possible to use facial recognition analysis to detect something intimate, something “people ...
Human extinction could come within 5,100 years
Every day, it seems, brings with it fresh new horrors. Mass murder. Catastrophic climate change. Nuclear annihilation. It's all enough to make a ...
Is life-extending modern medicine ‘unnatural?’
The word ‘unnatural’ conjures up feelings of doom and dread, and it is unfortunately often used by critics of science ...
Why won’t pharmaceutical companies invest in male birth control?
Male birth control is the great promise that never was. We’ve been just a few years away from a male ...
Biohacker: How to genetically modify yourself
“What we’ve got here is some DNA, and this is a syringe,” Josiah Zayner tells a room full of synthetic ...
Mass tragedies underscore desperate need for synthetic blood
Scientists have been working on creating synthetic blood for years now. The hope is that this substance will have a ...
Different types of meditations affect your brain in unique ways
We are used to hearing that meditation is good for the brain, but now it seems that not just any kind ...
Data storage may be coming to a molecule near you
[George Church] and two Harvard colleagues translated an HTML draft of a 50,000-word book on synthetic biology, coauthored by Church, ...
Has the evolution of artificial intelligence reached its limits?
But the peculiar thing about deep learning is just how old its key ideas are. Hinton’s breakthrough paper...was published in ...
Viewpoint: What are the odds on the future of humanity?
The more we learn about the history of our own world, and the wider solar system, the more we see ...
Who gave humans genital herpes? Maybe this ancient ancestor
Genital herpes infects about one in six American adults. But who was patient zero, the individual responsible for this irritating scourge? Researchers in ...
Is society ready or willing to embrace an Artificial Intelligence deity?
Intranet service? Check. Autonomous motorcycle? Check. Driverless car technology? Check. Obviously the next logical project for a successful Silicon Valley ...
Flu vaccine works better on some younger people—if you have the right genetics
Nine genes are tied to a strong immune response to the flu vaccine in people 35 and under, a new ...
Beyond designer babies: What’s the future of ‘bio-modifications’?
Vanderbilt University professor Michael Bess's presentation, “Our Grandchildren Redesigned,” was presented at the Dawn or Doom conference on [September 27]. Bess ...
Modified polio virus could be used as cancer treatment
A protein common on some types of cancer cell turns out to be the same one that in other circumstances ...
Tubular cell ‘highways’ could change what we know about cell interactions
[Researcher Yukiko Yamashita’s] group had been studying how fruit flies maintain their sperm supply and had engineered certain cells involved ...
Viewpoint: Inequality rooted in social conditions not biology
[Editor's note: Michael White is a professor of genetics at Washington University in St. Louis.] America, we've had a long ...