Archive: 2017

by Julia Nguyen figures by Alexandra Was What would you give for a brain chip that seamlessly translates any language into your native tongue? Or a retinal implant that lets you see in the dark? Or an implant that lets you record every single memory and…

by Tim Menke figures by Neal Akatsuka Imagine getting into your car in the morning, sipping your coffee and sitting back to relax while your car drives you to work. Then you remember to call a friend who you have not spoken to in a while, or you have a…

by Jennifer Wei figures by Jeep Veerasak Srisuknimit Ever wonder how music-streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora find songs that you like? Or how Facebook and Google find stories that are interesting to you? Many technology companies use machine…

If you look closely at this zebrafish embryo, you will notice bright spots that look like stars covering the entire body. The nuclei of each cell in this embryo has been labeled with a fluorescent protein so when you look at the nuclei under a…

There are a multitude of signals that elegantly orchestrate the proper development of the heart. In this image of a 3-day-old zebrafish heart, the signal that is localized to the developing atrio-ventricular valve and smooth muscle is labeled in green…

AquaBounty, a Massachusetts-based company, began growing genetically modified (GM) salmon nearly three decades ago. However, it wasn’t until 2015 that the FDA approved the fish for human consumption. Health Canada made the same decision in 2016. While a…

Thierry Work and a team of wildlife disease researchers are manufacturing reptile skin in the hopes of saving endangered turtles. A virus, ChHV5, has been infecting endangered green sea turtles, causing tumors to grown on the their skin and inside their…

Here is the developing zebrafish heart at 3 days post-fertilization. Unlike mammals, which have four chambers, the zebrafish heart consists of only two: a single ventricle (left) and a single atrium (right). Despite the difference in the number of…

My name is Michka Sharpe. I am from Kingston, Jamaica. I developed a passion for the natural world in Jamaica growing up surrounded by water and living in the mountains. I am also from a family of artists and so I learned to appreciate the beauty of what…

The image above shows a developing zebrafish eye 3 days after fertilization. From this perspective, we are staring directly into the eye of the zebrafish and can appreciate both its beauty and its complexity. At this stage, the cells that comprise and…