December 3, 2019
(MIT Technology Review) – Earlier this year a source sent us a copy of an unpublished manuscript describing the creation of the first gene-edited babies, born last year in China. Today, we are making excerpts of that manuscript public for … Read More
November 26, 2019
(Quartz) – People suffer when their bosses have access to wide-ranging information about their health, such as blood pressure, average heart rate, and sleep patterns. But the rising cost of health insurance makes having healthier workers an important cost-saving measure. … Read More
November 21, 2019
(STAT News) – The number of people infected by dengue and at least one related virus has plunged in places where mosquitoes bred to be infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia have been released and have established themselves, scientists reported … Read More
November 19, 2019
(CNN) – Genetically-modified babies are “highly desirable” to help protect people from disease and could be created ethically within two years, according to a new scientific paper. Gene editing now presents such low risks that it could be used in … Read More
November 14, 2019
(Nature) – They are the longest lived primate embryos to thrive outside the body. Two groups working in China have succeeded in growing monkey embryos in a dish for 20 days. The work sheds light on a crucial but little-understood … Read More
November 12, 2019
(The Conversation) – The idea of growing babies outside the body has inspired novels and movies for decades. Now, research groups around the world are exploring the possibility of artificial gestation. For instance, one group successfully grew a lamb in … Read More
November 7, 2019
(The Economist) – There is, however, a third way that the genetic dice which are thrown at the beginning of human life might be loaded—and it does not involve any risky tinkering. It is a twist on the well-established procedure … Read More
November 7, 2019
(GEN) – We are already living in a synthetic biology world. Within that huge world is an enormous variety of ideas and approaches, like custom-made proteins, CAR-T medicines, genetically engineered crops, and more. One sector still in its infancy is … Read More
November 4, 2019
(Science) – The success of organ transplantation is limited by the complications of immunosuppression, by chronic rejection, and by the insufficient organ supply, and thousands of patients die every year while waiting for a transplant. With recent progress in xenotransplantation … Read More
October 29, 2019
(Science) – A small bundle of human nerve cells are being cultured in a petri dish. The cells divide. They differentiate into cell types found in the brain. The cell network grows dense and develops brain-like structures—layers and folds. The … Read More
