Science

Why happiness is not the best indicator of well-being

Achieving values and pursuing growth is the real secret to a fulfilled life.

Jason Crawford

How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology

Stephen Johnson

A vibrant graphic illustration featuring a large leafy plant with integrated plant sensors, comic-style speech bubbles containing exclamation marks, and a round bubble depicting ants, set against a blue textured background.

Agriculture

Plant sensors could act as an early warning system for farmers

Using sensors made from carbon nanotubes, researchers discovered signals that help plants respond to stresses like heat, light, or attack.

Anne Trafton | MIT News Office

Memory

Hungry mice show why you should take study breaks

The spacing effect — a strange phenomenon by which you retain information more readily if you take study breaks — is now less of a mystery.

Kristin Houser

Agriculture

Kenya’s GM cassava plant gets greenlight

Kenya is moving forward with developing a cassava plant that’s been genetically modified to resist cassava brown streak disease.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

First neuron-level map of a monkey brain revealed

The first neuron-level 3D image of an entire macaque monkey brain could have a major impact on the world of neuroscience.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Researchers edit the sugarcane plant’s genome for the first time

Researchers have edited the sugarcane plant with CRISPR for the first time. The gene-edited crop provides an opportunity for quickly developing more eco-friendly sugarcane varieties.

Teresa Carey

Food

Adding one gene to rice and potatoes increased yields by 50%

The insertion of a gene found in animals prompted potato and rice plants to produce 50% more food and exhibit drought-resistant qualities.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

Baby mice “dream” about the world before seeing it

Before the eyes of baby mice open, their brains appear to use retinal waves to prep their vision systems to detect objects and motion.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

New treatment reverses age-related memory loss in mice

A treatment that reversed age-related memory loss in mice could one day treat or prevent such cognitive decline in older people.

Kristin Houser

DeepMind releases massive protein structure database

DeepMind is releasing a massive database of protein structure predictions that includes all the molecules in the human proteome.

Kristin Houser

Sports

Olympic swimmers get speed boost from pool engineers

We already know that Olympic swimmers are fast, but Olympic swimming pools can be engineered to be “fast,” too.

Kristin Houser

Food

Lab-grown foie gras eliminates force-feeding

Gourmey is developing lab-grown foie gras, using stem cells to produce the delicacy without subjecting birds to the practice of gavage.

Kristin Houser

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