Transhumanism
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 ...
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 ...
Human embryoids push bioethical boundaries
Scientists are using stem cells to create clumps of cells that increasingly resemble bits of brain, lungs, or intestine. […] ...
Seeking human consciousness at the cellular level
To define human consciousness at the neuronal level is among the most difficult of tasks for neuroscience. Still, researchers have ...
Calculating odds of destroying humanity with genetic engineering
How likely is it that humanity will destroy itself? Various scientists have studied this probability, and the basic calculation is ...
Transhumanism and inequality: Enhancing human life could bring dystopian consequences
Transhumanism may offer a pathway to an 'engineered paradise,' but there are many perils and pitfalls ahead -- particularly for ...
Modified herpes virus boosts immunotherapy treatment for melanoma
In a two-year UCLA-led study, nearly two-thirds of people with advanced melanoma responded positively to a treatment that combines the ...
Armor of tomorrow could be derived from these 3 animals
Scientists are investigating what makes conch shells and fish scales so tough and designing their own versions. They’re even turning to materials ...
Embryos aren’t female by ‘default’ after all, study shows
Every developing embryo, irrespective of its sex, at one point contains both male and female reproductive tracts, referred to as ...
Is scientific neutrality being lost to commercialism?
In the past few decades, the life sciences have been transformed into gigantic bio-technosciences, blurring the boundaries between science and ...
Simulated ‘cellular suicide’ could help control chronic inflammation
Inflammation, in particular, is vital to fighting infection or healing wounds. If it lingers, however, it can cause more harm ...
Why is type 2 diabetes difficult to diagnose in African Americans?
One of the tests used to diagnose type 2 diabetes and monitor blood sugar control is influenced by 60 genetic ...
Artificial intelligence uses facial features to detect sexual orientation
AI’s power to pick out patterns is now turning to more intimate matters. Research at Stanford University by Michal Kosinski and Yilun ...
Diabetes and heart disease share common genetic links
Scientists out of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine say that they’ve uncovered 16 new genetic risk factors for ...
Genetic obesity risk influenced by lifestyle as well as DNA
The risk for developing obesity is influenced by our lifestyle as well as our genes. In a new study from ...
Genetic mutation that causes paleness, light sensitivity may be responsible for legend of vampires
Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), the most common kind of porphyria to occur in childhood, causes people's skin to become very sensitive ...
Blood clot risk, other health problems, may increase with height
Height can be an independent predictor of your risk for venous thromboembolism, or VTE, also known as blood clots, according to ...
Could discovery of boron on Mars bring us closer to finding alien life?
Using data from NASA’s Curiosity rover, a team of interdisciplinary scientists has found boron in the Gale Crater. Gale was probably once a lake, and ...
Is brain hacking possible?
Accessing the human brain to enable functional connections with electronic technology may sound incredibly futuristic, but a handful of entrepreneurs, ...
Is evolution still happening in modern humans?
Though it may take millions of years for complex traits to evolve, say allowing humans to walk on two legs, ...
Quest to colonize space demands boost from biotechnology, synthetic biology
The lack of technology for such sustainable life support systems is a major factor underlying criticism of human space exploration ...
‘Unscrupulous’ stem cell clinics targeted in FDA crackdown
The Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown on dangerous stem cell clinics...while at the same time pledging to ease the path to approval ...
Life 3.0: What happens when AI becomes ‘master of its own destiny’?
[Editor's note: Max Tegmark is a physicist at MIT. The following is part of an excerpt from his new book, Life 3.0: ...
Doubts emerge about first ‘successfully cured’ CRISPR gene-edited human embryos
Doubts have surfaced about a landmark paper claiming that human embryos were cleared of a deadly mutation using genome editing ...