Washington Post
Can gene therapy offer a cure for sickle-cell disease?
[I]n November, six months after [21-year-old Manny] Johnson became the first patient to receive an experimental therapy aimed at curing ...
Boost for precision medicine? FDA approves drug targeting different cancers with shared mutation
The Food and Drug Administration on [November 26] approved a drug for a wide range of cancers based on a ...
Lab-grown fish? How biotechnology might save the endangered bluefin tuna
For several years, biotech companies have been promising “clean” meat, “cell-based” meat, “cultured” meat — whatever you want to call ...
Viewpoint: Why ancestry tests shouldn’t be ‘read as a certainty’
Yes, I’m the kind of person who would take a DNA test with Ancestry and then, curious about whether I’d ...
Ancient spearheads raise new questions about North America’s first inhabitants
[A]rchaeologists have uncovered evidence of a human settlement stretching back as far as 15,500 years: hammer stones and broken knives, ...
Calls for a halt to heart stem cell trial based on controversial research
Days after Harvard Medical School said it found extensive falsified or fabricated data from the laboratory of a prominent heart researcher, ...
‘Hugely influential’ papers on cardiac stem cells declared ‘fraudulent’ by Harvard
An internal investigation by Harvard Medical School has determined that 31 scientific publications from the laboratory of a high-profile cardiologist ...
Pentagon DARPA program targeting crop losses could turn insects into ‘easily weaponized’ biological army, critics claim
The Pentagon is studying whether insects can be enlisted to combat crop loss during agricultural emergencies. The bugs would carry ...
Can’t remember what happened last night? How alcohol creates blackouts
The allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh have a common element of binge drinking, and highlight the ...
Pioneering cancer immunotherapy researchers awarded Nobel Prize in medicine
The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday [Oct. 1, 2018] to cancer researchers James P. Allison and ...
Fighting the next pandemic with injection-free ‘vaccine patches’
When the next deadly pandemic flu hits, the first challenge will be to develop a vaccine. But looming behind that obstacle is ...
Human eggs from blood cells? New technique could ‘transform reproduction’
Scientists in Japan made progress recently in the quest to combat infertility, creating the precursor to a human egg cell in a ...
1 in 10 children diagnosed with ADHD: Why so many?
The number of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has reached more than 10 percent, a significant increase during the past 20 ...
Are some people just ‘jerks’? New study identifies four major personality types
Personality type tests are hugely popular, though if you ask working psychologists, they’ll tell you the results are little better ...
Success of alternative meat sparks regulatory battle over ‘future of American food’
On Aug. 28, a law went into effect in Missouri that makes it a crime to use the term “meat” to describe ...
Why some researchers have urged caution with CRISPR gene editing
Despite all the excitement surrounding CRISPR editing, researchers have urged caution about moving too fast. Two recent studies have raised ...
Social science ‘reproducibility crisis’: Only 13 of 21 prestigious studies replicable
The “reproducibility crisis” in [social] science is erupting again. A research project attempted to replicate 21 social science experiments published between 2010 and ...
Cooperation in a time of chaos: Ancient Kenyan burial ground shows evidence of ‘social unity’
For millions of years, the Turkana Basin in northern Kenya has been a cradle of humanity. … Around 5,000 years ago, the ...
Robot peer pressure and why we may need to fear ‘artificial stupidity’
When the robot revolution arrives, we all know the plot: Smarter machines will supersede human intelligence and outwit us, enslave ...
‘Very reassuring’: Vaccinating pregnant women does not increase risk of autism in children
New research has shown that a common childhood vaccination given to pregnant women does not put their children at any increased ...
Tamed foxes could help unravel complex genetics behind social behavior
[D]omestication, based purely on behavioral traits, can result in other changes — like curlier tails and changes to fur color ...
Reasons to be wary of the ‘untamed wilderness’ of dog DNA tests
The claims that dog DNA-testing companies make can seem all but definitive: One quick cheek swab can not only tell ...
Fighting cancer with help from the body’s internal clock
Chi Van Dang generally declines to discuss the science that made him famous. ... Instead of doing so, Dang [a ...
Elephants rarely get cancer. Can humans borrow their genetic strategies?
Elephants have 100 times as many cells as humans. But they seldom get cancer. This is surprising, because cancer is ...
Privacy pledge: Consumer genetic-testing firms agree to new rules
Ancestry, 23andMe and other popular companies that offer genetic testing pledged on Tuesday [July 31] to be upfront when they ...
Transgender men experience masculinity differently
We spoke with ... men who transitioned as adults to the bodies in which they feel more comfortable. ... [T]heir ...
Frozen embryos: Who owns them and do they have legal rights?
With the number of frozen embryos in the United States soaring into the millions, disputes over who owns them are ...
Expensive tastes? Testosterone linked to quest for status symbols
Whether it’s in his choice of top-shelf alcohol at the club, the watch on his wrist or the clothes he ...
