Biotech
Human history has been all but defined by death and disease, plague and pandemic. Advancements in 20th century medicine changed all of that. Now advancements in 21st century medicine promise to go even further. Could we bring about an end to disease? Reverse aging? Give hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind? The answer may be yes. And soon.
Featured
The next era of psychedelics may be precision-designed states of consciousness
A look inside Mindstate Design Labs’ effort to design drugs that reliably produce specific states of consciousness.
What is The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050?
We have a historic opportunity to harness AI and other transformative technologies in order to make a much better world in the next 25 years.
Progress happens because solutions create new problems to solve
Solutionism means fully accepting what’s in front of us and enthusiastically stepping up to meet the challenge.
Psychedelics & Mental Health
How to reclaim meaning in a changing world
What if the barrier to a fulfilled life isn’t technology, it’s culture?
The exciting research that may cure Parkinson’s
GeneCode is developing a drug it hopes won’t just alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms but also protect and restore patient’s neural health.
Biohacking
We’re able to create new creatures through gene editing. What’s stopping us?
The question isn’t whether we can sculpt new life. The question is what comes next.
Boosted Breeding and beyond: 3 tech trends that could end world hunger
A world without hunger is possible, and the development and deployment of new farming technologies could be one key to manifesting it.
New AI generates CRISPR proteins unlike any seen in nature
An AI that generates CRISPR proteins is opening the door to gene editors with capabilities beyond what we’ve found in nature.
Ray Kurzweil explains how AI makes radical life extension possible
Life expectancy gains in developed countries have slowed in recent decades, but AI may be poised to transform medicine as we know it.
Vaccines
Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment
Personalized cancer vaccines were a recurring theme at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2024.
The threat of avian flu — and what we can do to stop it
Avian flu is infecting cows on US dairy farms, and now a person has caught it — but new research could help us avoid a bird flu pandemic.
One shot recreates younger immune systems, in mice
An antibody treatment designed to revitalize an aging immune system delivers “surprising” results in elderly mice.
More
Meet the artist who paints with dna clues
When Maayan Harel paints a portrait, her subject isn’t sitting in front of her. She doesn’t even have a photograph…
Can mosquito-repellent clothes stop the deadliest animal on Earth?
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence — what Revelation doesn’t tell you is…
Robotic birth simulator saves lives in the delivery room
Meet the group of medical professionals that’s delivering babies from robots to prepare for real-life emergencies in the hospital room.
Take a trip to Johns Hopkins’ new psychedelic research center
Johns Hopkins is throwing its considerable clout behind the fast-growing field of psychedelic research, pouring $17 million into a research center to study the hallucinogenic drugs.
Could another measles outbreak open up Pandora’s Box?
The global resurgence of measles has sparked renewed scientific interest in this old foe. If the theory — which is contested — turns out to be true, a measles infection could be less an isolated bout of illness and more a Pandora’s box.
mRNA vaccines could change everything in the fight against disease
Traditional methods of vaccination have come up against difficult challenges. They can also be expensive and time-consuming to produce. New RNA vaccines are faster, cheaper, and safer, and show great potential to meet evolving threats.
Bringing community healthcare to the people
There is an urgent challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa: people are dying from treatable illnesses like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. Now, people are turning to their neighbors for community health care.
Scientists grew a mini brain in a lab. It has human-like brain waves.
For the first time, a lab-grown mini brain has brain waves. Researchers can now launch new ways to study brain disorders. But the question of consciousness in the brain-like organoid could raise concern.
Uganda begins massive new Ebola vaccine study
The Ebola outbreak in the Congo is now the second deadliest on record. How can we stop the devastation? A study in Uganda could hold the key for a new vaccine.
Prosthetics as fashion: designers transform prosthetic leg covers into wearable art
Alleles is a premier boutique where amputees can be fitted for fashionable limb covers that make their prosthetic limbs stylish and eye-catching. These designers hope their fashions will help reduce the stigma that comes with prosthetics.
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Superhuman
Electric skin gives sensation back to amputees
Touch is a sensation that connects us all. This scientist created electronic skin that lets people with prosthetic limbs feel.
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Superhuman
The emerging cyborg
Alec McMorris is testing one of the world’s most advanced prosthetics – an AI powered bionic leg.
Advanced prosthetics are not only powerful, they’re beautiful
“There’s a deep, deep relationship between the functionality of the device and a person’s identity of what their body is.”
Hope grows for patients with spinal cord injuries
Severe spinal cord injuries resulting in total paralysis are usually considered permanent, with no hope of recovery. And yet, in a handful of patients spanning multiple levels of severity, movement is being regained.
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Superhuman
Spinal implants: Helping the paralyzed walk again
Walking after complete spinal cord injury used to be a far-fetched dream. But, with advances in spinal cord implants for paralysis, even paraplegics have been able to regain mobility and walk again.
Wearable robotic suits could be coming to a store near you
What can lift 500 pounds in each hand, walk for miles and miles with a heavy load, or leap over obstacles in a single bound? Humans – with the help of wearable robotics.
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Superhuman
The exoskeleton marathon racer
How do you bounce back from a life-changing car accident? Adam Gorlitsky decided he would break a world record.
What wolves can teach us about human connection
Wolves are not often thought of as therapy animals, but Wolf Connections is changing that perception while helping young people in the process.
Ever wonder what happens to leftover crayons?
This dad is melting down old crayons for kids who need them most.
Scientists sidestep restrictions on cannabis research by taking their lab mobile
This mobile lab, run by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder, is one of several workarounds developed…
Special Collection
Collection
The Science of Death
Explore the journey from life to death and beyond. Near-death experiences, death doulas, digital immortality, and more – join us for a thoughtful exploration of one life’s most intriguing and inevitable phenomena with stories from the frontlines of death.
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