A hot potato: Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) faces mounting scrutiny over its cyber vulnerabilities. While NGS has revolutionized fields ranging from cancer diagnostics to infectious disease tracking, a new study warns that the systems enabling these advances could also be exploited as a gateway for hackers and malicious actors.
Browsing: Science & Nature
Invisible Dark: Lone black holes passing through the galaxy should be a pretty common occurrence in the Milky Way, but they are notoriously hard to spot. According to recently published research, we have now confirmed the existence of the first-ever lone black hole. And it’s essentially in our neighborhood.
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it plans to end the use of petroleum-based synthetic food dyes in America’s food supply within the next two years in a bid to combat a myriad of health concerns, especially among children. The policy was announced by Marty Makary, the newly confirmed head of the Food and Drug Administration, at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services. Also in attendance were Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and several representatives of the Make America Healthy Again movement. “For the last 50 years, we have been running one of the largest, uncontrolled scientific experiments in the world on our nation’s children, without their consent,” Makary said. “Today, we are ending that experiment, by removing petroleum-based chemicals from their food supply.” Though he quickly acknowledged eliminating what he called “chemical toxins” from the food supply is “not a silver bullet that will instantly
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine have created a chewing gum that can neutralize viruses responsible for causing influenza and herpes in humans. This antiviral gum is made using lablab beans (hyacinth beans), which contain a unique protein capable of reducing virus count by 95 percent. The gum stops the viruses…
If you thought conservatives distrusted climate science and gender studies but were fine with physics, think again. A sweeping new study reveals a much bleaker situation. Conservative Americans don’t just mistrust “controversial” science. They mistrust nearly all of it—across 35 disciplines, from anthropology to atomic physics.
In the stillness of sleep, some people wake up — without ever opening their eyes. They become aware, mid-dream, that they’re dreaming. They explore their fantasies with the same sense of self as they have when awake. This uncanny state, called lucid dreaming, has long captivated researchers trying to understand how consciousness works.
It survived punctures, razor cuts, and a full month of abuse — without a drop spilled. At first glance, it looks like a flimsy patch of silicone, the kind you might peel off a sticker. But inside, this sliver of softness hides a breakthrough in energy storage. Unlike most lithium-ion batteries, which are rigid, flammable,…
For some creatures, a lost body part is not necessarily a permanent affair. Salamanders can regrow limbs and zebrafish can rebuild their retinas. Yet mammals — including humans — are largely stuck with what they’re born with. When vision is lost to degenerative diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, it stays lost.
Late Monday night, a Falcon 9 rocket pierced the sky above Cape Canaveral. Aboard its nosecone, tucked inside a shoebox-sized laboratory, were microscopic passengers that may one day make dinner on Mars.
Scientists have created a color that lies outside the range of normal human vision. Using laser pulses to stimulate specific cells in the retina, a team from UC Berkeley and the University of Washington successfully induced the perception of a novel hue — dubbed olo — in five volunteers. The researchers claim it’s a blue-green…