Technology and society: The “maker” movement could change how science is taught and boost innovation. It may even herald a new industrial revolution
A simple, precise and inexpensive method for cutting DNA to insert genes into human cells could transform genetic medicine, making routine what now are expensive, complicated and rare procedures for replacing defective genes in order to fix genetic disease or even cure AIDS. Jennifer Doudna, Martin Jinek, and Emmanuelle Charpentier published a paper in Science…
With the successful landing and deployment of the Mars Curiosity Rover, humanity has been treated to a sneak peek at the Red Planet for the first time. The possibility of establishing space colonies has been a scientists’ dream for decades, but working out a way to keep humans alive on the outside Earth’s protective shell…
Robotics key to rover Curiosity’s ability to drive, drill and analyze Martian surface, says NASA lead engineer
Well, it’s taken 80 years, but the post–New Deal, post-military-industrial-complex mega-state has finally come up with a single good idea: the construction and deployment of a mobile, moon-sized, planet-killing death ray in outer space. Here is the language of the official petition to build a Death Star–style “space-superiority platform,” submitted to the White House under…
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have used cutting-edge infrared surveys of the sky to discover a new population of enormous, rapidly growing supermassive black holes in the early Universe. The black holes were previously undetected because they sit cocooned within thick layers of dust. The new study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of…
East Asia’s status as the world’s main “extinction hotspot” is confirmed in the new Red List of Threatened Species, unveiled at the Rio+20 sustainable development meeting. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which compiles the list, says it shows the importance of nature for human wellbeing. One of the themes of the Rio…