Shelly Fan
How plastic-eating bacteria could help us make a dent in massive Pacific trash vortex
The Pacific trash vortex, is a massive collection of debris in the North Pacific Ocean, the main components are tiny ...
Moonshot genomics: How CRISPR is opening the door to reshaping life itself
It’s a moonshot idea. If the genome is a book, gene editing is like copy editing—changing a typo here and ...
Optogenetics: We may soon be able to manipulate the mind with light
Thanks to optogenetics, in just ten years we’ve been able to artificially incept memories in mice, decipher brain signals that lead to ...
Not quite total recall: How limits on what humans can remember is helping us ‘teach’ AI
An artificial neural network learns by adjusting synaptic weights—how strongly one artificial neuron connects to another—which in turn leads to ...
Meet the cyborg who can help decode the human brain
His motion capture suit, sensor-embedded gloves, and virtual reality eyewear were already enough to turn heads. But what stopped people ...
‘Swallowable surgeons’: Battalion of salt-crystal sized microbots in development that could revolutionize medicine
Drs. Marc Miskin, Itai Cohen, and Paul McEuen at Cornell University spearheaded a collaboration that tackled one of the most pressing ...
Nature has given us a blueprint for longevity. We just need to decode it
Our aging process extends for years, during which we experience a slew of age-related disorders. Diabetes. Heart disease. Dementia. Surprisingly, ...
Electroacupuncture: Promising pain therapy or quackery?
One idea [for alternative pain relief] is to specifically stimulate nerves that act as highway carriers of pain signals and ...
Unlocking the ‘deepest secrets of our brains as we grow and age’
Just as our human relationships and connections can nudge, push, or dramatically shift societal values and consequences, the connections between ...
Bioprinting human ears inside living mice—all without a single surgical cut
Tissue engineering just got wilder and weirder. Using nothing but light and bioink, scientists were able to directly print a ...
Monkey mind control? Ultrasound pulses influence decision making
A team of scientists was pulsing imperceptible ultrasound waves through his skull into frontal parts of his brain, and tacitly ...
‘Digital’ contact tracing: How would the US react to coronavirus containment effort that tracks our cell phones?
There’s a reason contact tracing has survived the test of time: it works. Thanks to epic efforts at hunting down ...
Synthetic biology amps up ‘decades-old’ vaccine technology
According to STAT, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institute of Health (NIH) are betting on synthetic biology to ...
Common form of inherited blindness shows ‘massive improvements’ with experimental gene therapy
This month, K.L. became one of the first patients to receive a new experimental gene therapy for children with a ...
We’re better at fighting epidemics because of advances in genetic sequencing, synthetic biology and a willingness to collaborate
It’s impossible not to draw parallels between SARS and the new coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, that’s been ravaging China and spreading ...
Smartphone as a ‘mood predictor’? This study wants to know if phone-captured data can predict depression
With digital health, anyone with a wrist wearable or smartphone could potentially contribute in the largest studies ever attempted by ...
‘It takes a world’: Initiative urges global collaboration to help us understand the human brain
First envisioned in 2016 through a series of discussions on the “grand challenges” in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, the International ...
‘Mini-computers’ found in our neurons could be key to developing more powerful AI networks
With just their input cables, human neurons can perform difficult logic calculations previously only seen in entire neural networks. To ...
Forecasting: 2020 could bring major advances in gene therapies and pig-to-human organ transplants
Here are two stories in biotech we’re keeping our eyes on. Although successes likely won’t come to fruition this year ...
Neuroscience had a ‘transformative’ decade, giving us brain-computer interfaces, new research tools
I rarely use the words transformative or breakthrough for neuroscience findings. The brain is complex, noisy, chaotic, and often unpredictable ...
Why it’s so difficult for human embryos to survive CRISPR gene editing
CRISPR may one day wipe out devastating genetic diseases throughout entire family lines, or even the human race. But to ...
Computer simulation suggests we aren’t even close to designing better babies
It’s difficult to talk about genetic selection without the umbrella of morality or ethics. Yet like all scientific advancements, it ...
Artificial lungs grown in ‘hijacked’ mouse embryo could pave way for human transplants
Vaping aside, as dangerous air quality becomes increasingly prevalent in cities around the globe, the risk of serious lung disease ...
Trio of gene therapies seeks to reverse age-related diseases to make us ‘healthy, youthful later in life’
The legendary synthetic biologist Dr. George Church and team at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University took a first step towards ...
CRISPR got an upgrade. ‘Prime editing’ offers more accurate ‘search-and-replace’
All right, let’s do this one last time. My name is CRISPR. I was made from a bacterial defense system, and ...
‘Scientific fight of the century’: Two theories of consciousness are going head-to-head
Here’s something you don’t hear every day: two theories of consciousness are about to face off in the scientific fight ...
Astonishing efficiency, unlimited storage: What makes the human brain so powerful?
[A] team from Washington University in St. Louis combined neural recordings from rats with computer modeling to uncover one of the ...
Artificial intelligence can determine your ‘brain age’ by analyzing MRI scans
Delaying “brain age” may sound like the latest quick-fix gimmick on a late-night infomercial, but the science underlying the concept ...