The 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry went to two women who developed a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, which snips DNA like a pair of molecular scissors. The technique “has not only revolutionized basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments,” Claes Gustafsson,Continue Reading
Three scientists won the 2020 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that can cause chronic inflammation of the liver, leading to severe scarring and cancer. The researchers Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice “made seminal discoveries that led to theContinue Reading
The CDC has updated its COVID-19 guidance to acknowledge that the virus can sometimes spread via small droplet particles that linger in the air. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its COVID-19 guidance to acknowledge that the virus can sometimes spread via “airborne transmission,” or smallContinue Reading
It might be time to ditch your old Teflon cookware. Spending each morning at the kitchen sink scraping at the charred remains of breakfast gets tedious after a while. Non-stick cookware may seem like an appealing alternative — but is it safe? Usually when people inquire about the safety ofContinue Reading
Manatees have been visiting the Lone Star State for tens of thousands of years. Today’s manatees often summer off the coast of Texas and Florida, heading farther south toward warmer waters in the winter. Now, new fossils suggest that their ice age ancestors may have made the same migrations. EightContinue Reading
The stuff that makes up our universe is tricky to measure, to put it mildly. We know that most of the universe’s matter-energy density consists of dark energy, the mysterious unknown force that’s driving the universe’s expansion. And we know that the rest is matter, both normal and dark. AccuratelyContinue Reading
A robotic Cygnus spacecraft successfully blasted off from Virginia late Friday (Oct. 2) carrying nearly 4 tons of gear, including a new space toilet, to the International Space Station. A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lit up the night sky alongside a nearly full moon at 9:16 p.m. EDT (0116 GMTContinue Reading
The woman died shortly after the barbaric act. About 1,100 years ago in early medieval England, a teenage girl met a horrific end; her nose and lips were cut off with a sharp weapon, and she may have been scalped, according to a new analysis of her skull. No oneContinue Reading
The woman had no risk factors for the disease and exactly how she caught it is a mystery. A young woman in Australia was found to have tapeworm larvae lurking in her brain — a very unusual diagnosis considering she had no risk factors for the condition, according to aContinue Reading
Even among its extinct relatives, Megalodon was unequalled in length and mass. Megalodon was the most massive shark that ever lived, and its gargantuan girth was highly unusual even among sharks, scientists recently discovered. In fact, Megalodon’s gigantism — it’s estimated to have measured up to 50 feet (15 meters)Continue Reading