Scientists are hard at work devising new forms of plastic that won’t contribute to the well-documented tsunami of plastic trash engulfing the world.
Tag: Science
A FIRST: STEM CELLS CURE HEART DEFECT
A new trial has again proven stem cells’ power to dramatically alter human health.
TAPPING OCEAN WATER FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION IN A DRIED-UP WORLD
Water, water everywhere: 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water but humans can’t drink it or water their crops with ocean brine.
SKIP THE PREGNANCY AND HAVE A BABY WITH ECTOLIFE
It’s been called “Womb With a View”: the EctoLife artificial uterus lets a fertilized human egg grow in an ideal environment within a transparent pod so the process of development can be seen not only by doctors, but also by parents-to-be.
DECENTRALIZED HOME HEATING—INSIDE YOUR HOUSE
Renewable energy is decentralizing the electric grid. Now the Warming Surfaces Co., a spinout from VTT, Finland’s technology skunkworks, has decentralized heat—specifically, the heat inside your home.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BESTS HUMANS AT CODING
AlphaCode, an advance in artificial intelligence from Alphabet subsidiary DeepMind, has outperformed humans at writing computer code to solve tricky problems in programming.
NEW BLOOD TESTS FIND SIGNS OF ALZHEIMER’S YEARS AHEAD OF SYMPTOMS
Several research projects are reporting initial success in using a simple blood test to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease years before people show symptoms.
ZOMBIE VIRUSES RISING FROM THE PERMAFROST CAN INFECT LIVING CREATURES
Not a teaser for a new science fiction thriller but the result of an experiment carried out by an international team of scientists.
FDA APPROVES THERAPY MADE FROM HUMAN POOP
Fecal transplants—removing poop from young mice and putting it into the intestinal tract of older ones—has been shown to repopulate ailing digestive systems with healthy bacteria, as we reported in “Fecal Transplants Reverse Symptoms of Aging in Mice,” 24 Aug 2021.
DENMARK CLOSES THE LOOP ON CARBON
Various schemes have been suggested to store waste carbon that’s taken out of the fuel stream or the atmosphere, but few have been tried. Most of the attention has gone to Climeworks, a Swiss company that operates giant, ground-standing filters that suck air through and draw off the carbon.