Verge
Climate change-fighting rice? Plants trap carbon dioxide as they grow — and CRISPR gene editing can optimize this process
Can gene-editing technology CRISPR create new crops that help fight climate change as they grow? That’s what a group of ...
Conception deception: Finding out your biological father was your mother’s IVF doctor
There is no specific law against fertility fraud at the federal level in the United States, and at the state ...
Is the direct-to-consumer genetic testing boom fading?
At-home health testing company LetsGetChecked has acquired the genetic testing company Veritas Genetics and spinoff Veritas Intercontinental, it announced [March ...
Natural Cycles wearable birth control monitor on track for FDA approval
The Natural Cycles app uses daily temperature measurements and period cycle tracking to predict the days someone is least likely ...
Video: Can drugs be made for viruses that do not exist yet?
[N]ovel coronaviruses seem to be making successful jumps to humans very roughly once per decade — and there’s no reason to think they’ll ...
With a COVID-19 vaccine only a distant possibility, a HIV containment-like strategy could be best option
Though many people are pinning their hopes on a COVID-19 vaccine, another option is available: preventive treatment. At a Senate ...
Viewpoint: Here’s what a win against the coronavirus looks like. It’s not pretty
If you’ve been marking the pandemic by the pileup of cautious reopenings and rescheduled events, you might think that an ...
Searching for ‘animal zero’ and the origins of the coronavirus outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic that’s currently ravaging the world started with a simple virus in an animal. Viruses like this, which ...
Pandemic path: Tracking the spread of the coronavirus through its genetic mutations
As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, it has mutated in tiny, subtle ways. Those mutations aren’t cause for concern, ...
Inoculating yourself against coronavirus conspiracy theories
To understand why there’s so much misinformation out there — for example, that the virus was purposely created in a ...
How long are you infectious? COVID-19 patients struggle to find an answer
Reyhan Harmanci is feeling better. After cycling through an illness she thinks was COVID-19, with headache, fever, and nausea, her ...
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to stop hawking bogus coronavirus cures
New York attorney general Letitia James has ordered radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to stop claiming that InfoWars’ ...
Video: Why labs are printing synthetic copies of the coronavirus genome
Advancements in genetic technology are making it easier, faster, and less expensive for public health experts to understand how the ...
Why consumers are losing interest in genetic testing
At-home DNA testing companies 23andMe and Ancestry each laid off about 100 employees over the past month, cutting around 14 and 6 percent of ...
There’s a potential threat from cancer-spotting AI: overdiagnosis
These days, it might seem like algorithms are out-diagnosing doctors at every turn, identifying dangerous lesions and dodgy moles with ...
Plant-based meat competition heats up as GMO Impossible Burger makes grocery store debut
The Impossible Burger, a meat-free burger that’s previously only been available in restaurants, will be available to buy in grocery ...
Video: Even if you’ve never taken a DNA test ‘your genetic privacy might already be compromised’
The rise of direct-to-consumer DNA tests comes with a host of thorny problems, including how to interpret the data and major questions about genetic privacy ...
Why it’s probably not the stress that’s shrinking your brain
A new study shows that people with higher levels of the “stress hormone” tend to have smaller brains — but ...
Deep learning: When artificial and human intelligence come together
[Computational neuroscientist Terrence] Sejnowski, a pioneer in the study of learning algorithms, is the author of The Deep Learning Revolution (out next ...
Are we close to gene therapy in the womb?
[Recently] scientists reported that they were able to treat a serious genetic disorder in the womb — in mice. It sounds like ...
Lab-grown meat debate stirs ethical questions about the future of food and synthetic biology
More than a century ago, dairy farmers sounded the alarm on margarine, insisting that it wasn’t really butter, and it therefore ...
Delving into the real danger of artificial intelligence
CEOs of artificial intelligence companies usually seek to minimize the threats posed by AI, rather than play them up. But ...
Why would hackers want your DNA?
DNA testing service MyHeritage [recently] revealed that hackers had breached 92 million of its accounts. Though the hackers only accessed encrypted ...
Viewpoint: Doctors need better training if DNA sequencing becomes standard care
[Recently] the CEO of Pennsylvania health care provider Geisinger announced that its doctors will now offer patients DNA sequencing “as part of ...
Can CRISPR tell what ails you? ‘Affordable’ at-home kits may be on the way
A new biotech company co-founded by CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna is developing a device that uses CRISPR to detect all kinds of ...
Tearing down the ‘myth’ of dopamine as the ‘pleasure chemical’
Dopamine is one of the most hyped brain chemicals, supposedly linked to everything from sex to gambling. It’s common to read, as Business Insider claimed ...
CRISPR shows promise in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Scientists have successfully tweaked the DNA in human heart cells to correct mutations that cause a deadly disease. If the ...
450-year-old mummy found with oldest evidence of hepatitis B infection
Once, this boy mummy was thought to have died of smallpox, but a new analysis of his now 450-year-old DNA ...
