How Scientists Are Perfecting Chocolate

In 1847, the British company J.S. Fry & Sons unveiled a new product: a solid block of cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter. While people had sipped on chocolate beverages for thousands of years, c

realclearscience.com

Synthetic biology researchers think they’ve made a cell. Is it alive?

Researchers have created what they say may count as the first synthetic cell, and have started a public benefit corporation to share the technology with

statnews.com

The Horrors of Pre-Industrial Farming

humanprogress.org

Flesh-eating screwworms are back. Gene drives could stop them for good.

Despite objections by some activist groups, it is ethical to drive at least some pest species to extinction.

reason.com

Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public

Parents want accountability after study went disastrously wrong, Science and Retraction Watch investigation reveals

science.org

Opinion | We’re Living in a Tick Nightmare. It’s Time to Go to War.

With ticks, we’ve barely begun to fight back. The longer we wait, the more territory they will claim across both our geographic and psychic maps.

nytimes.com

This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade.

From chemical building blocks, scientists have created synthetic cells that have most of the hallmarks of life.

nytimes.com

Iran’s Killing Machine Is Operating in Plain Sight

Two Iranian teenagers were just executed for opening their doors to fleeing protesters. They are only the latest victims of a regime that uses the world’s distractions to carry out mass killing, write...

thefp.com

The Fig Tree Above the Whirlpool

Why Homer chose a wild fig to save Odysseus — and why that choice still matters

open.substack.com

A paleontologist noticed the dirt inside a fossil rodent's empty tooth sockets was smoother than sediment should ever be — CT scans revealed up to six generations of bee nests, built and rebuilt in th...

When a rodent died thousands of years ago, bees discovered its empty tooth sockets and turned them into real estate—repeatedly remodeling the same microscopic apartments across millennia.

scienceblog.com

First vaccine targeting SARS virus family enters human trials – Institute for Protein Design

The computer-designed vaccine aims to protect against coronaviruses that haven't yet emerged, including pandemic threats

ipd.uw.edu

On a Colorado farm, solar panels bring shade for plants, power – and cash: in pictures

More than 3,000 solar panels power Jack’s Solar Garden, cool the land and help it turn a profitThe Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian’s co...

theguardian.com

Putting Gear to the Test: Helping California Fishermen Adapt Through Innovation

YouTube video by National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

youtu.be

Centuries before farming, hunter-gatherers introduced fish to the Norwegian mountains

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 7,000-year-old fish traps in the mountains of southern Norway, indicating that fish were intentionally introduced to upland lakes by Mesolithic hunter-fish...

phys.org

Here’s why tribes say Trump’s Bears Ears order changed more than the map

President Donald Trump gutted the Bears Ears National Monument, which was originally proposed by five tribes. He also disbanded the Bears Ears Commission, a model for tribal co-management of federal l...

sltrib.com

Grateful for a US Supreme Court Decision that Supports a Safe Crop Protection Product

A strong consensus among scientific and government agencies around the world says that glyphosate poses no risk to human health when used as directed.

globalfarmernetwork.org

What Ben Sasse's treatment says about the bright future of cancer cures

New immunotherapies, cancer vaccines, and early diagnostics will bend the cancer mortality curve ever downward.

reason.com

I Wanted an Ecologically Responsible Garden. It Was Harder Than I Thought. (Gift Article)

The native plant movement gets a lot right, but there’s so much more to consider.

nytimes.com

Synthetic sugar-coated nanoparticle blocks Covid-19 from infecting human cells

Groundbreaking research led by a Swansea University academic has revealed a synthetic glycosystem - a sugar-coated polymer nanoparticle - that can block Covid-19 from infecting human cells, reducing i...

news-medical.net

CRISPR’s next act: the companies editing the epigenome to treat disease

A handful of start-up firms are testing therapies that target specific epigenetic markers to treat everything from high cholesterol to a rare muscular disorder.

nature.com

In a Scientific First, Researchers Recovered Ancient DNA That Humans Left Behind on Rock Art and Cave Walls

DNA preservation on cave walls is highly variable, but scientists say their work is an important step on the path toward gaining a deeper understanding of our creative ancestors

smithsonianmag.com

Antibiotic cocktail made by soil bacteria can kill superbugs

Four antibiotic compounds produced in Streptomyces bacteria attack multiple parts of an essential metabolic pathway.

nature.com

The Colorado River is vanishing — and the fixes are getting weird

Desalination. Pipelines. Cloud seeding. Those are just a few ideas for how the Trump administration should save the desiccated waterway.

grist.org

New human embryo editing advances require tough conversations on ethical boundaries

Scientists can’t ignore the ethical complexities of new embryo editing advances.

statnews.com

CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal.

The study found that the vaccine reduced the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half last winter.

wapo.st

Over 100,000 kids have died due to Greenpeace blocking genetically enhanced rice, new calculation shows

Anti-technology activists have blocked the adoption of Golden Rice, which is modified to combat Vitamin A deficiency, for over two decades.

reason.com

Bird-derived gene tool inserts plant DNA 30 times more efficiently than CRISPR

In a rapidly changing climate landscape, the plants we rely on for food, textiles and more face a multitude of challenges, including rising temperatures, drought and disease. Caltech's Gözde Demirer, ...

phys.org

America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr.

The American Medical Association has sought a working relationship with the health secretary. Members saw moral compromise.

politico.com

He profits off raw milk that’s making people sick. The government isn’t stopping him. | CNN

Unpasteurized milk has moved from a fringe obsession to a widespread movement rooted in institutional distrust. Despite stringent hygiene efforts, contamination from deadly bacteria like E. coli and s...

cnn.com

Glucosamine alert: Alzheimer’s progresses faster among those taking the popular supplement

Glucosamine -- a popular supplement used for joint pain -- was associated with faster progression to Alzheimer's disease and worse survival among

geneticliteracyproject.org