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
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Wrong
Did rats start the drug war?
Much of our shared understanding about drugs and addiction came from a series of studies done in the 1950s and 60s…
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Superhuman
3D printing prosthetics for kids
The incredible movement of shared designs and tech that’s making prosthetics better and cheaper for everyone.
How virtual reality is changing medicine
From virtual hearts to immersive battlefields, doctors and scientists are using virtual reality to transform medicine
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Superhuman
Stem cells give paralyzed man movement
Could an injection of embryonic stem cells into the spinal cord reverse paralysis?
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Superhuman
Brain implant gives quadriplegic movement
A brain implant connected to electrodes could offer hope to those who have lost function in their limbs.
Could this revolutionary football helmet protect players and save the game?
As more and more former football players exhibit symptoms of CTE, one company thinks their new helmet can address…
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Crossing the Divide
How to negotiate the nonnegotiable
Insights on working through conflict with Harvard’s top negotiation expert.
Can a single conversation really change someone's mind? This research says yes.
After studying a team of canvassers, two researchers found that a single conversation can have a significant and…
The mom who will stop at nothing to save her daughter's life
Doctors told Karen Aiach her daughter had a rare and fatal disease. So she decided to invent a cure.
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Wrong
Beware the Frankenbabies!
Frightening predictions almost stopped the invention that has helped millions of families.
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Coded
Erasing your DNA
Is a spray that can mask your DNA the frontier of personal privacy or a tool for criminals?
This week in ideas: Building a cheaper MRI, reconciling God and AI, and the next Einstein
Rethinking the MRI machine, how will Christianity handle advanced tech, and is this 7-year-old the next Einstein?
This week in ideas: Embryonic people-pigs, the glories of the Hubble Telescope, and American cyber-security
A step toward human organs in animal embryos, the Hubble Telescope was a game changer, and Americans aren’t doing…
This week in ideas: How to form good habits, the case against empathy, and a miracle cure derailed
From how to make good habits (and keep them) to a crisis at the NIH, it’s a new edition of our week in ideas.
This week in ideas: Fighting addiction with implants, using VR to educate, Amazon Prime gets primer
An arm implant to treat opioid addiction, teaching hair stylists with VR, and a potential Amazon Prime game changer.
What we need right now is a little bit of Hans Rosling
The Swedish public health researcher says that, contrary to most of what you hear, the world is actually moving in…
This week in ideas: A $1 microscope, healing our divisions, Planet Earth is back
Democratizing microscopes, how we heal our political divisions, and BBC’s Planet Earth returns. These are our…
This week in ideas: An artificial pancreas, Google's new translation tech, and a massive Mars rocket
An incredible medical breakthrough, Google ups the ante, and the SpaceX Mars rocket. These are our favorite stories…
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Superhuman
Gaining independence with the world's most advanced prosthetic arm
Jerral was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq and left paralyzed. Now he’s partnering with researchers to regain his independence. »
A regulatory fight is brewing over experimental stem cell therapies
New proposed regulations from the FDA would effectively shut down private stem cell clinics in the U.S.
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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