SPACE: Will We Need to Tweak Our DNA to Colonize Mars?
If humanity is ever going to settle down on Mars, we may need to become a little less human. Crewed missions to Mars, which NASA wants to start flying in … Read more
dna
Gene Tweak Extends Life 500% (If You’re This Worm)
By tweaking a few key genes in the DNA of a roundworm, scientists have extended the animal’s life span by about 500%. That’s a huge jump in life: An average … Read more
SPACE: Could “Water Bear” DNA Help Us Survive on mars?
Will we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars? Chris Mason, a geneticist and associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell University in … Read more
DNA Analysis – No Monster in Loch Ness (Sad Emoji)
The Loch Ness monster has haunted a deep Scottish lake for more than 1,000 years — in imagination, at least. But a scientific survey of the waters of Loch Ness … Read more
SCIENCE: CRISPR Is “Not As Safe As We Thought”
Like a molecular ninja, the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 slices through ultraspecific segments of DNA to cut out unwanted bits of genetic code. It’s a precise and promising method of genetic … Read more
FOR WRITERS: Designer Babies
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Aidee Ladnier: We’ve all heard the scare tactics of politicians warning of the dangers of designer babies, but genetically modified humans are … Read more
SCIENCE: Storing Data in DNA
Government intelligence agencies have a plan to build computers that store information inside DNA and other organic molecules. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a group within the Office of … Read more
Science: De-Extincting the Wooly Mammoth
Did we learn nothing from “Jurassic Park?” A Harvard University scientist told The Guardian this week that his team is only two years from resurrecting some traits of the woolly … Read more
Science Trying to Answer Why People Are Trans
Why are girls born as girls, and boys as boys? What about an individual who is biologically female but feels or sees oneself as male, or the other way around? … Read more
For Writers: Storing Info in DNA
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Freddy MacKay: Freddy flagged this article for us: http://m.phys.org/news/2016-04-team-digital-images-dnaand-perfectly.html All the movies, images, emails and other digital data from more than 600 basic smartphones … Read more