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
MDMA couples therapy could help couples dealing with PTSD
A small study out of Canada investigated the potential of using MDMA-assisted couples therapy to treat PTSD.
FDA authorizes first over-the-counter COVID-19 test
The FDA has authorized the first over-the-counter COVID-19 test for home use, but buyers still have to send their samples to a lab for processing.
Microdosing mushrooms: Explained
Microdosing mushrooms — taking doses of psilocybin too small to cause a trip to enhance daily life — is gaining momentum. But does science support it?
4 people in the world have a mysterious dementia. Could it hold a key to Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s has proved difficult to treat. But solving the mystery of this ultra-rare frontotemporal dementia may unlock new understanding.
Cancer blood test trial to launch in the UK
The UK is trialing a blood test designed to detect 50 types of cancer at once, which could be a gamechanger in cancer screening if proven effective.
Gene therapy restores youthful eye cells — and vision — to older mice
A team of researchers have achieved sight restoration in older mice and those modeling glaucoma, in what could be an important step in understanding aging.
A gene drive could wipe out mosquitoes. But what if we want to turn it off?
Gene drives could wipe out malaria. It’s risky, but scientists say it’s getting safer.
CBD does not impair driving, study finds
A new study has demonstrated that CBD is safe for driving, while the effects of THC last only a few hours. This work could inform cannabis use laws.
New pancreatic cancer treatment penetrates tough tumors
For a new pancreatic cancer treatment, researchers attached a chemotherapy drug to an antibody that targets a molecule on the outside of cancer cells.
Your moral compass could be broken
If we can better understand the evolution of our moral compass, psychologists believe we can begin working toward a society built on empathy over judgement.
DeepMind AI cracks the code of protein structures
A protein’s structure is crucial to its function. Predicting how a protein will fold was a challenge decades in the making — and answered by DeepMind.
CRISPR used to edit HIV cure into monkey embryos
A mutation of the CCR5 gene can cure HIV — and thanks to CRISPR, scientists may soon be able to study it in animal models.
The quest for a “warm” COVID-19 vaccine
Developers are on the hunt for a warm COVID-19 vaccine, one that could be distributed in places where a reliable cold chain isn’t available.
This databank of mammalian genomes is the Noah’s Ark of DNA
The Zoonomia Project is the largest database of mammalian genomes to date, and it’s already helping researchers study SARS-CoV-2 and extinction risk.
Congo just used vaccines to beat Ebola. What they learned could stop COVID, too.
Congo’s recent success delivering frigid Ebola vaccines to remote areas may provide invaluable experience for a COVID-19 vaccine cold chain.
Cancer immunotherapy “baits” the immune system into attacking hidden lung tumors
When cancer spreads, it often ends up in the lungs. ImmunoBait can ride a red blood cell in mice to deliver cancer immunotherapy where they live.
We can now see a virus invasion in real-time
Understanding how a virus infects and replicates in a cell is crucial to stopping them. Now, researchers can see an infection in real-time.
The hep C cure may also fight COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2 uses a number of key proteins to infect us, including its main protease. New research has found hepatitis C drugs can bind this protein.
Stopping nightmare disorder with a prescription-only watch
A prescription-only watch that treats nightmare disorder is the latest in a growing subset of health technologies called prescription digital therapeutics.
CRISPR could help save coral reefs from bleaching
Using CRISPR, scientists have identified a gene that could determine whether coral reefs are highly susceptible to bleaching or not.
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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