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
This 20-year chart of depression diagnoses shows an incredible shift
People are being diagnosed with depression earlier than in the past because of a decrease in stigma and better diagnostic guidelines.
First-of-its-kind trial shows AI beat humans at analyzing heart scans
Echonet, an AI trained to assess a measure of heart function, has outperformed trained technicians in both accuracy and efficiency.
To make great changes in your life, follow the philosophy of kaizen
Kaizen asks us to make small changes, slowly and over time. It’s a hard skill to master in an age of instant gratification.
Dolphins use signature whistles to represent other dolphins – like names
Bottlenose dolphins are extremely social animals that communicate constantly, and consistently use signature whistles for one another.
FDA authorizes updated COVID-19 boosters
The FDA has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s updated COVID-19 boosters, which target the now-dominant Omicron subvariants.
CRISPR fully reprograms mammal genome for the first time
CRISPR has been used to rearrange the chromosomes of lab mice, a world’s first in mammals and a breakthrough in bioengineering.
An ancient technique can improve your attention span
Life’s modern distractions, such as news and social media, have overwhelmed our evolutionarily designed attention spans.
Is your mind just a parasite on your physical body?
What if there is nothing special about self-awareness? What if it is just evolutionary dead weight, bound to disappear soon?
Breakthrough in photosynthesis boosts plant growth up to 30%
In a small study, researchers have engineered soy plants to have higher yields thanks to improved photosynthesis.
5 drugs that changed the world (and what went wrong)
Anesthesia, penicillin, antibiotics, diazepam, and the birth control pill have all radically changed our lives.
“Synthetic biomarkers” could catch your cancer in the future
When the body’s own biomarkers aren’t enough, researchers have begun creating their own to help fight cancer.
An international team sets out to cure genetic heart diseases with one shot
Researchers from the UK, US, and Singapore are beginning work on a genetic heart cure they hope to begin clinically testing within five years.
Researchers may have created a universal coronavirus vaccine
All currently licensed COVID-19 vaccines target the spike protein’s S1 region, which is prone to mutations. We need a universal vaccine.
Pfizer’s RSV vaccine is 86% effective at preventing severe illness
According to a huge phase 3 trial, Pfizer’s RSV vaccine is nearly 86% effective at preventing severe illness in older adults.
Scientists convert kidney to universal “O” blood type
Kidneys still need to be tissue matched, but by converting them to type O, more will be available for transplant.
MIT just created a test that can tell if you’re immune to COVID-19
MIT researchers have developed an easy-to-use test that may be able to predict an individual’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
New epilepsy treatment could stop seizures in their tracks
A new epilepsy treatment that’s delivered as a nasal spray may be able to prevent seizures or even interrupt them.
A sepsis-catching AI has proven effective in hospitals
A new AI for spotting sepsis, which accounts for ⅓ of hospital deaths, was found to be effective in a large trial.
What smart toilet seats reveal about digital health’s evolution
Digital health is attracting record levels of investment in products such as smart toilet seats, which can help millions get access to care.
First personalized CRISPR therapy approved for trial
The FDA has approved a trial for the first personalized CRISPR therapy, which was developed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
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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