Collaborate Disseminate
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science Magazine: It would be a nightmare lab leak: Synthetic bacteria escape the petri dish and unleash a global plague that life on Earth is incapable of defending itself against. That’s the concern raised by … Continue reading Leading Scientists Urge Ban On Developing ‘Mirror-Image’ Bacteria
Slashdot reader sciencehabit writes:
Most orange cats are boys, a quirk of feline genetics that also explains why almost all calicos and tortoiseshells are girls. Scientists curious about those sex differences—or perhaps just cat lovers—h… Continue reading Scientists Have Finally Found the Gene That Gives Cats Orange Fur
“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” is playing on the radio now in the Northern Hemisphere which begs the question, “What happened to the American chestnut?” Would you be surprised …read more Continue reading Hacking Trees to Bring Back the American Chestnut
The genetic testing company 23andMe announced it will cut 40% of its workforce, or 200 jobs, and halt the work on therapies it was developing. As the BBC notes, the company is fighting for survival after hackers gained access to personal information of… Continue reading 23andMe To Lay Off 40% of Its Workforce, Discontinue All Therapy Programs
Our bodies divest themselves of 60 billion cells every day through a natural process called “apoptosis”. So Stanford medicine researchers are developing a new approach to cancer therapy that could “trick cancer cells into disposing of themselves,” acco… Continue reading Researchers Develop New Method That Tricks Cancer Cells Into Killing Themselves
The one-and-done nature of 23andMe is “indicative of a core business problem with the once high-flying biotech company that is now teetering on the brink of collapse,” reports NPR. As 23andMe struggles for survival, many of its 15 million customers are… Continue reading 23andMe Is On the Brink. What Happens To All Its DNA Data?
An anonymous reader shared this story from SFGate:
A boy who was kidnapped from an Oakland playground in 1951 has been found alive on the East Coast, a remarkable resolution to a mystery that has haunted his family for over half a century.
On Februa… Continue reading A California Boy Was Kidnapped from a Park in 1951. He’s Just Been Found Alive
An anonymous reader shared this report from USA Today:
He’s the founder of Telegram. He was arrested in France. He also claims to have fathered at least 100 children…
The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire often keeps his personal life out of t… Continue reading Telegram CEO Durov Fathered Over 100 Kids as an Anonymous Sperm Donor
An anonymous Slashdot reader shared this report from NBC News:
A new approach to a routine blood test could predict a person’s 30-year risk of heart disease, research published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine found.
Doctors have lon… Continue reading A Simple Blood Test Predicts a Person’s Heart Disease Risk 30 Years Out, Study Finds
One of Slashdot’s most-visited stories of all time was the 2016 story asking: Can Cow Backpacks Reduce Global Methane Emissions?
“Enteric fermentation,” or livestock’s digestive process, accounts for 22 percent of all U.S. methane emissions, and the m… Continue reading Can We Fight Climate Change By Bioengineering a Better Cow?