nature
Developing a ‘kill switch’ to make CRISPR gene editing more precise—and safer
[Microbiologists] stumbled onto tools now known as anti-CRISPRs. These proteins serve as the rocks to CRISPR’s molecular scissors. And soon, ...
Quest to understand sense of touch could lead to new treatments for chronic pain
If she wasn’t looking at her limbs, the girl didn’t seem to have any clue where they were. She lacked ...
‘Search and destroy’: Precision stem cell treatments could be safer against blood cancers
Scientists are experimenting with ways to selectively target the body’s blood-making cells for destruction. Early studies in animals and people ...
‘De novo genes’: How natural selection creates new genes from nothing
In the depths of winter, water temperatures in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean can sink below zero. That’s cold enough to ...
Emerging field of ‘social genomics’ comes with ethical, societal risks: ‘Who’s going to benefit?’
By looking at the genomes of people living in former coal-mining areas, [geneticist Abdel Abdellaoui] has found genetic signatures associated ...
Researchers retract study questioning long-term health of China’s controversial CRISPR babies
A study that raised questions over the future health of the world’s first gene-edited babies has been retracted because of ...
Japan’s quest to be world leader in regenerative medicine sparks surge in questionable stem cell treatments
In the United States, authorities have grappled with a surge of clinics selling therapies that are unsupported by evidence and, ...
‘Using Nature’s Shuttle’: Judith M. Heimann’s fascinating new book about how scientists learned to create genetically modified crops
Judith M. Heimann’s recent book [Using Nature's Shuttle] provides a thoroughly engaging account of how [the mystery of plant crown ...
First real anti-aging drug on the horizon? Common drugs turned back body’s epigenetic clock 2.5 years in small trial
A small clinical study in California has suggested for the first time that it might be possible to reverse the ...
Japanese woman receives first artificial cornea created from reprogrammed stem cells
A Japanese woman in her forties has become the first person in the world to have her cornea repaired using ...
CRISPR creates ‘smart’ hydrogels that could lead to therapies capable of fighting multiple infections, diseases
Is there anything CRISPR can’t do? Scientists have wielded the gene-editing tool to make scores of genetically modified organisms, as ...
‘From quackery to established science’: Here’s what’s going on with promising anti-aging research
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment anti-aging research morphed from quackery to an established science. Some say it’s 1939, ...
‘Built to forget’: Why memory lapses are good for our brains
Until about ten years ago, most researchers thought that forgetting was a passive process in which memories, unused, decay over ...
Infographic: Here’s how gene drives would fight mosquitos, malaria
Gene drives have rapidly become a routine technology in some laboratories; scientists can now whip up a drive in months ...
Scientific, social and ethical barriers must be overcome before the world is ready for CRISPR babies, researchers say
Nature asked researchers and other stakeholders what hurdles remain before heritable gene editing could become acceptable as a clinical tool ...
Another CRISPR controversy brews as Russian scientist announces plans to produce gene-edited babies
A Russian scientist says he is planning to produce gene-edited babies, an act that would make him only the second ...
This tech start-up wants to ‘hack’ efforts to save endangered species, ecosystems
After an unorthodox career in science that has included setting up a national park in an active war zone in ...
Short or tall? Genes account for 79% of height differences, study shows
Since the human genome was sequenced nearly two decades ago, researchers have struggled to fully identify the genetic factors responsible [for ...
Pushing for greater diversity in genetic databases by ending ‘cycle of disengagement’
For the past 30 years, human genomics has made exciting advances in reconstructing population history and identifying which genes make ...
Turning brain signals into speech using artificial intelligence moves closer to reality
In an effort to provide a voice for people who can’t speak, neuroscientists have designed a device that can transform ...
Do men and women feel pain differently?
Pain researchers are opening their eyes to the spectrum of responses across sexes. Results are starting to trickle out, and ...
‘Paradigm shifting’: Monthly injections could replace daily pills for HIV patients
Long-acting medicines have proved as effective as daily pills in preventing HIV from replicating, according to results from twin trials ...
China tightens gene-editing regulations in wake of CRISPR baby scandal
China’s health ministry has issued draft regulations that will restrict the use of gene editing in humans, just three months ...
Among questions lingering after CRISPR-babies controversy: When will it happen again?
In the three months since He Jiankui announced the birth of twin girls with edited genomes, the questions facing the ...
‘Good Reasons for Bad Feelings’: Understanding evolution’s role in anxiety, depression and making us human
[In] the thought-provoking Good Reasons for Bad Feelings, [evolutionary] psychiatrist Randolph Nesse offers insights that radically reframe psychiatric conditions. In his ...
Who were the Denisovans? This Siberian cave could offer answers
Samantha Brown didn’t have high hopes when she opened the ziplock bag containing some 700 shards of bone. It would ...
Challenging Nature’s decision to run a stem cell advertisement portrayed as research
Readers of Nature, one of the world’s most important scientific journals, might have been struck recently by an audacious claim ...
