Archive: Apr 2016

Scientists recently discovered a coral reef in an unexpected place: where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The reef lives on the shallow seafloor off the coast of Brazil, which is host to six previously known large reefs, all rich in species.…

Prior to the year 2000, the Earth’s spin axis was slowly drifting toward Canada (green arrow, left image). Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as a drought in Eurasia, resulted in large changes to the mass composition of the…

presented by Joy Jiao Cancer immunotherapy, the use of the immune system to fight cancer, has revolutionized treatment options for diseases such as advanced lung cancer and melanoma. Recently, cancer immunotherapy has obtained additional fame as former…

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute have created a fast-growing bacterial cell with a nearly-minimal number of genes necessary for survival – just 473 in total. These genes were entirely synthesized - not transplanted from a grown organism - and…

In George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion phonetics professor Henry Higgins bets that he can teach Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, enough proper English to pass for a duchess. A little over 100 years after Pygmalion’s publication, Microsoft launched a…

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presented by Yanina Barrera How do atmospheric scientists understand air pollution in a city, when the air is constantly moving from state to state, and country to country? Answering this question is crucial for developing public health and environmental…

by Stephen Thornquist figures by Michael Gerhardt A computer has finally beaten the Go world champion, a challenge that was considered the “holy grail” of artificial intelligence for nearly twenty years. Go’s impenetrability comes from the fact that a…

by Gabriel Filsinger figures by Bradley Wierbowski Brain diseases and age-related neurological disorders are a growing strain on society, and their impact is poised to expand alongside the aging world population. Due to protracted effects and the…

by Angela She figures by Shannon McArdel The brain is one of the most complex entities in biology. For thousands of years, humans have wondered how the human brain works, but only in the past few years has technology evolved so that scientists can…