Science

a colorful image of a human embryo at Day 11 under a microscope

Model human embryo, created from stem cells, survives past two weeks

A model human embryo capable of developing past day 14 could revolutionize our understanding of human development.

How years of fighting every wildfire helped fuel the Western megafires of today

The current approach to fire management poses unnecessarily high stakes for forests. Here’s why fighting every fire does more harm than good.

Paul Hessburg and Keala Hagmann and Susan J. Prichard

rows of black rock with the gloved hands of a scientist in the background

Planet Earth

Record-breaking amount of Earth’s mantle drilled out of ocean floor

Scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution have retrieved “a staggering” amount of mantle rock from below the ocean floor.

Kristin Houser

Biology

Sound waves can trigger torpor-like state in mice and rats

Ultrasound stimulation triggers a torpor-like state in animals, suggesting a noninvasive way to put people into the state.

Kristin Houser

Neuroscience

The first 10 minutes of sleep can unlock your creative potential

According to prior research, the first ten minutes of sleep, called N1, can provide a creative boost when it comes to solving problems.

Ross Pomeroy

Engineering

Graphene is a Nobel Prize-winning “wonder material.” Graphyne might replace it.

A two-dimensional material made entirely of carbon called graphene won the Nobel Prize in 2010. Graphyne might be even better.

Sachin Rawat

Biology

Did life evolve more than once? Researchers are closing in on an answer

Current scientific consensus is that life emerged from non-living molecules in a process called abiogenesis. But if life emerged once, why not more times?

Jordi Paps

Genetics

We’re analysing DNA from ancient and modern humans to create a “family tree of everyone”

Genetic genealogy not only helps us understand where we came from, but it could also be used for tracing the origin of genetic mutations.

Anthony Wilder Wohns and Yan Wong

Biology

Discovery finally uncovers how melanin blocks UV

An international team of researchers have isolated and analyzed a component of melanin, which protects us from the sun.

B. David Zarley

Food

A banana that doesn’t go bad so fast approved by the Philippines

Billions of bananas are wasted every year, but that may change soon.

Sachin Rawat

Planet Earth

Supercomputers revealed giant “pillars of heat” funnelling diamonds upwards from deep within Earth

Understanding Earth’s internal history can be used to target mineral reserves – not only diamonds, but also crucial minerals.

Nicolas Flament and Ömer F. Bodur

Biology

A new organelle has been found in cells

Researchers have discovered a new organelle in the guts of fruit flies.

B. David Zarley

CRISPR

CRISPR sausage gets FDA green light for consumption

The FDA has given Washington State University researchers the green light to feed five gene-edited pigs to people.

Kristin Houser

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