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The first clinical trial using the gene editing technique CRISPR was given the go-ahead by panel from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The trial is aimed at determining if the technique is safe for use on human subjects. As there is much we…

How a 300-million-year-old mystery fossil is reshaping our understanding of what it means to be a vertebrate. by Kelsey Lucas figures by Brad Wierbowski Through murky water you spot it – a creature with a cylindrical body, tapering at each end like a…

Digitally-colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Zika virus. Virus particles are colored blue. By CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith Public Domain In a little over a year since it was first reported in Brazil, Zika virus has gone from a little-known…

by Scott Melville figures by Shannon McArdel and Michael Gerhardt You’ll never guess how Google autocompletes: “Do black holes have…” The answer: “…no hair?” This strange question has been debated by physicists for at least forty years, and today it…

The 2004 discovery of a 1-meter-tall, ancient human (named Homo floresiensis, and nicknamed “the hobbit”) sparked great interest in the scientific community, but until recently only a single fossil had been found. Last month, however, scientists…

by Mary Gearing figures by Krissy Lyon Imagine being a parent in Flint, Cleveland, or another city with high lead levels, constantly wondering about the effects of lead on your children’s health. You’d keep asking the same questions: if we lived…

by Fernanda Ferreira figures by Krissy Lyon Arianna Huffington wants you to get more sleep. Arianna Huffington wants you to leave your phone, with its blue light and sleep-disrupting screen, outside your bedroom and get some sleep. In 2007 the…

Computer representation of an antibody (purple Y) binding to its target. [Image: ‘B0007277 Monoclonal antibodies’ from Wellcome Images]What can our immune system tell us about brain health?  Research from Rowan University suggests that the…

by Chamith Fonseka figures by Anna Maurer The solar system may soon go back to having nine planets, but don’t rejoice yet, Pluto fans. Ten years ago, Pluto was downgraded to the status of a dwarf planet after a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of…

In May, researchers identified for the first time a bacterial infection in the US that was resistant to the last-resort antibiotic colistin. Colistin was the last remaining antibiotic effective against all bacteria in the country – a weapon of last…