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
How a bedtime routine may affect your brain — and your sleep
A mouse study has yielded new insights into the effect of a bedtime routine on the brain, which could lead to new therapies for insomniacs.
Spinal cord implants help paralyzed people walk again
A new spinal cord implant uses electricity to reawaken spinal neurons.
New tech cuts years off of DNA sequencing
The Stanford Medicine team set a new record for DNA sequencing. They went from obtaining a blood sample to diagnosing an illness in just 8 hours.
Sonic waves could help bones grow back after cancer
A technique that turns stem cells into bone cells using only sound waves could help people regrow bone destroyed by disease.
90% of drugs fail clinical trials – here’s one way researchers can select better drug candidates
It’s disappointing when the years of effort and resources spent to push a drug candidate to patients so often lead to failure.
What the Russian invasion means for clinical trials in Ukraine
Russia’s invasion has the potential to disrupt clinical trials in Ukraine, warns one of the many companies staging trials in the nation.
Researchers convert donor lungs to universal blood type
A new study reveals that if donor organs were treated with specific enzymes, any organ could become “universal” and be more compatible with recipients of any blood type.
How mRNA and DNA vaccines could treat autoimmune disorders, genetic diseases, and more
Using DNA or an mRNA vaccine, researchers are investigating the feasibility of essentially replacing missing genes that cause disease.
How close are we to curing blindness?
New approaches to curing blindness are heralding a future in which fewer people have to live life completely in the dark.
Despite its disastrous effects, COVID-19 offers some gifts to medicine
While it’s still too early to draw conclusions, there’s emerging evidence between autoimmune disorders and the virus that causes COVID-19.
Diamond-like starfish skeleton unlike any discovered in nature
The skeleton of the knobby starfish has a structure unlike any other found in nature so far, and it could inspire new lightweight ceramics.
Moderna is developing a herpes vaccine
Moderna is developing a herpes vaccine that could protect you against the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world.
Opioid overdose: A bioethicist explains why restricting supply may not be the right solution
Since the unpredictability of drug supply increases overdose risk, making the drug supply predictable should be part of the solution, right?
Insulin pump can be controlled with an app
A new app lets insulin pump users deliver doses remotely, making it easier to manage diabetes discretely and conveniently
Take a look at the deepest known squid, just found
NOAA scientists used an ROV to spot a ghostly cephalopod, known as a bigfin squid
We can now use CRISPR to fight tick-borne diseases
U.S. researchers have overcome a hurdle that was preventing the use of CRISPR to fight tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease.
Horseshoe crabs are drained for their blue blood. That practice will soon be over.
One of humanity’s strangest and most macabre activities is slowly coming to an end, a trend that every horseshoe crab should celebrate.
Golden blood: The rarest blood type in the world
Golden blood, despite sounding like medical nonsense, is actually the nickname for Rh-null, the world’s rarest blood type.
Scientists use ultrasound to control brain cells in animals
Researchers have used ultrasound to trigger the brain cells of mice with a technique called sonogenetics.
MIT invents $4 solar desalination device
MIT has developed a $4 solar desalination device that could provide a family of four with all the drinking water it needed to survive.
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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