George Dvorsky
Animals enhanced with human brain cells—and robust levels of consciousness—create new ethical dilemmas
Neuroscientist Isaac Chen from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, along with his colleagues, has written ...
From hominids to animals: Who lived in Siberia’s famous Denisova Cave?
For thousands of years, Siberia’s Denisova Cave was home to various bands of Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans. But as ...
We haven’t found a Denisovan skull yet. But thanks to genetic analysis, we can predict what their faces looked like
A pinky finger bone, some teeth, and a lower jaw. That’s all the physical evidence we have of the mysterious ...
First people in the Americas arrived by Pacific pathway, new evidence suggests
Around 14,800 years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet separated from its neighboring Laurentide Ice Sheet, creating an ice-free corridor that ...
Did God create humans within the last 10,000 years? 40% of Americans still think so, Gallup poll shows
A new Gallup poll shows that 40 percent of American adults comply to a strict view of creationism, in which ...
No, plants don’t have ‘conscious awareness’, scientists argue
The remarkable ability of plants to respond to their environment has led some scientists to believe it’s a sign of ...
Viewpoint: Trump’s fetal-tissue research ban ‘ignores and defies the facts’
The Trump administration is halting fetal tissue research by government scientists and placing new restrictions on how the National Institutes ...
Terminally ill California man is first to undergo cryonic preservation after assisted death
A terminally ill patient who opted for assisted death has undergone cryonic preservation at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. This ...
Some ‘quite effective’ US Civil War ‘folk’ medicines could lead to modern treatments
With conventional medicines in short supply during the Civil War, the Confederacy turned to plant-based alternatives in desperation. New research ...
Have we finally identified humanity’s direct ancestor? Controversial claim challenged
Humans evolved from a group of ape-like hominins known as Australopithecine, but scientists aren’t [sure] which species is our direct ...
Space station experiment testing ‘nano antioxidants’ that could fight age-related diseases
An upcoming experiment aboard the International Space Station will test the effects of microgravity on living cells mixed with tiny ...
Stanford investigation clears faculty members that knew about CRISPR baby scandal
A Stanford investigation has cleared three prominent faculty members of helping with a controversial gene-editing experiment led by disgraced Chinese ...
Genetic tests by Inova draw warning letter from FDA, citing potential for ‘serious health consequences’
A suite of genetic tests used to predict a person’s response to specific medications is being marketed illegally by its ...
Maybe cats do recognize their own names
Dogs are amazing at recognizing their own names, but scientists are less certain about whether cats have this ability. New ...
Birth of lambs from 50-year-old frozen sperm ‘bodes well’ for human fertility
Semen frozen back in 1968 has been used to impregnate dozens of Merino ewes, resulting in healthy lambs. The Australian ...
Infrared vision? We’ve now given it to mice and humans could be next
[Researchers Tian Xue and Gang Han] modified the vision of mice such that they were able to see near-infrared light ...
Viewpoint: Biologist Craig Mello knew about the CRISPR babies. Why his silence was ‘not acceptable’
The Associated Press reports that Nobel laureate and biologist Craig Mello was aware of a pregnancy in China involving gene-edited ...
Chinese scientist behind CRISPR babies committed crimes, will be punished, China says
The scientist responsible for creating the world’s first genetically modified babies violated government bans and committed fraud, according to Chinese ...
10,000-year-old remains suggest dogs reached North America earlier than previously thought
The skeletal remains of three ancient dogs found buried in Illinois now represent the earliest evidence for the presence of ...
Chinese scientists aren’t keeping tabs on experimental gene therapy patients, report says
Gene therapies are very much at their preliminary stages of development, so it would make sense to keep tabs on ...
Controversial Chinese scientist behind CRISPR babies is missing
The current whereabouts of He Jiankui—the scientist who claims to have engineered the world’s first genetically modified human babies—is unknown ...
This tiny creature gives us a ‘completely new branch on the tree of life’
Canadian scientists have identified microscopic creatures that are so unlike anything seen before, they had to create an entirely new ...
How DNA tests solved the mystery of this strange, now-extinct monkey
For nearly 100 years, scientists haven’t been able to agree on the evolutionary origins of a strange, now-extinct monkey that ...
Why we should search for alien life within our own Solar System
By examining interstellar asteroids and comets up close, argues Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, we might be able to tell whether ...
Chocolate labs plagued by consumer-driven ‘genetic bottleneck’
New research shows that chocolate Labrador retrievers are more likely to experience health problems and die younger compared to their ...
We started eating chocolate 1,500 years earlier than previously thought, paper says
New archaeological evidence suggests humans were cultivating and consuming cacao—the crop from which chocolate is produced—as long as 5,300 years ...
Where did Europe’s original dogs go?
The first farmers to arrive in Europe from the Middle East brought their dogs along with them, effectively wiping out ...
Challenging earth’s oldest fossils: Critics say ‘there’s absolutely nothing biological about them’
Two years ago, researchers from the University of Wollongong in Australia shook the science world by claiming to have discovered ...
