CRISPR-Based System Targets RNA and Kills Cells on Demand
Scientists at Utah State University have engineered a CRISPR‑Cas12a2 system that reads a specific RNA transcript and triggers uncontrolled DNA shredding, killing the host cell. The enzyme reduced yeast colonies 134‑fold and stopped proliferation of HeLa cancer cells, even when delivered via lipid nanoparticles. In mouse xenografts of HPV‑positive head‑and‑neck tumors, direct injection of Cas12a2 markedly slowed growth. The authors also showed the tool can enrich edited cells and synergize with KRAS‑targeted drugs, highlighting broad therapeutic promise.
Innovative Mars Rovers 'Swim' Through the Sand
Researchers at the University of Würzburg have engineered a Mars rover prototype whose wheels mimic the sandfish lizard’s ability to "swim" through granular media. The biomimetic design generates longitudinal and lateral forces, allowing the vehicle to traverse soft sand without...
The Distant World that Is Our Best Hope of Finding Alien Life
Astronomers have identified the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e as the most promising candidate for detecting alien life beyond the Solar System. The world is roughly Earth‑sized, orbits within the habitable zone of its ultra‑cool dwarf star, and recent James Webb Space Telescope...
Next Generation Very Large Array Prototype Achieves First Light
The Next Generation Very Large Array (NGVLA) prototype achieved first light this spring, successfully detecting its inaugural astronomical signal. The 10‑meter dish, equipped with ultra‑wideband receivers spanning 1.2‑116 GHz, demonstrates the engineering concepts slated for the full NGVLA. Funding for the...
Very Long Baseline Array Maps Turbulent “Weather” In the Milky Way
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Long Baseline Array has produced the highest‑resolution map of turbulent gas flows—dubbed interstellar "weather"—across a swath of the Milky Way. By tracking the 21‑cm hydrogen line with milliarcsecond precision, astronomers quantified velocity fluctuations on...
JCR Pharmaceuticals Highlights Preclinical CNS Gene Therapy Data for JUST-AAV Platform at ASGCT 2026
JCR Pharmaceuticals showcased preclinical data for its JUST‑AAV platform at ASGCT 2026, highlighting enhanced central nervous system (CNS) delivery and reduced liver exposure compared with conventional AAV9 vectors. The platform uses transferrin‑receptor‑targeted capsids to cross the blood‑brain barrier, delivering therapeutic...
NASA's MAVEN Makes First Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has recorded its first direct atmospheric effect on the Red Planet. During a recent solar storm, MAVEN observed a dramatic spike in ion escape, measuring roughly 100 kg of atmospheric gas lost each...
Wave Aims for Monthly Dosing with RNA Editing Treatment for AATD
Wave Life Sciences announced an updated read‑out from its early‑stage trial of an RNA‑editing therapy for alpha‑1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). The data indicate that the treatment can restore functional protein levels with a dosing schedule that could be moved to...
Heatwaves Have Led To Declining Coral Reefs In National Parks In Hawai’i
A 2026 USGS study finds marine heatwaves have driven live coral cover down across three Hawaiian national parks—Kaloko‑Honokōhau, Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau, and Puʻukoholā Heiau—between the early 2000s and 2022. The steepest losses occurred at Puʻukoholā Heiau, while low‑cover (0‑20%) reefs...
Damaged DNA Can Spread Between Human Cells. What Could that Mean for Cancer?
Scientists have shown that damaged DNA can move between neighboring human cells through tunneling nanotubes, a discovery published in Cell on May 19. The transfer occurs when genomic damage triggers DNA fragments to travel along these tube-like structures, even delivering functional...
SpaceX Targets May 21 Launch for Most Powerful Starship Yet
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, May 21, for the launch of its most powerful Starship variant, the SN24. The launch will occur within a 90‑minute window that opens at 6:30 p.m. EDT from Boca Chica. SN24 incorporates upgraded Raptor engines and structural...
Proteins that Create Ice Inspire 'Cool' Applications, From Cryomedicine to Artificial Snow
Researchers from Aarhus University and Oregon State University demonstrated that ice‑nucleating proteins (INPs) from the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae attach to both hydrophilic and hydrophobic artificial surfaces in a uniform, single‑molecule layer. The proteins retain their ice‑forming orientation, enabling ice to...
Relay Doubles the Bar, Outpacing Novartis with a 60% Response in Rare Disease
Relay’s oral PI3Kα inhibitor zovegalisib posted a 60% volumetric response in a Phase 2 trial of patients with vascular malformations, far outpacing Novartis’ 11% result with Vijoice. The data, presented at the ISVAA World Congress 2026, came from 20 evaluable patients,...
Worker Bees Have Power to Pick Their Queen
A new study in Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology shows that bumblebee workers control queen production by feeding larvae juvenile hormone. The hormone’s effect is limited to a narrow developmental window on days seven and eight, after which larvae become...
Dealing with Lunar Dust: What Works Best?
An Australian research team led by RMIT and CSIRO evaluated over 30 passive surface technologies to mitigate lunar dust, scoring them on five criteria including durability and dust interaction. The highest‑scoring solutions were a graphene‑enhanced perfluorosilane coating and a graphene/polyamide‑imide...
Brain Scans Reveal How Ibogaine Alters Neural Networks in Veterans with Head Trauma
Researchers at Stanford reported that a single dose of ibogaine, combined with magnesium, produced measurable neurobiological changes in 30 combat veterans with mild‑to‑moderate traumatic brain injury and PTSD. Functional MRI scans revealed sustained increases in cerebral blood flow across the...
How to Predict an Earthquake
Earthquake prediction remains elusive because plate tectonics operate on geological timescales far beyond the reach of modern seismometer networks. To bridge this gap, paleoseismologists like USGS geologist Katherine Scharer excavate reinforced trenches across California’s most hazardous faults, uncovering ancient rupture...
Scientists Were Wrong About This “Rule-Breaking” Particle
Physicists led by Penn State’s Zoltan Fodor have produced the most precise lattice‑QCD calculation of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment, eliminating the long‑standing gap between theory and experiment. The new result aligns the Standard Model prediction with measurements to within...
First Steel Beams for DUNE Start to Be Lowered Underground
CERN Director‑General Mark Thomson attended a ceremony at the Sanford Underground Research Laboratory on 7 May, marking the start of a major construction phase for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Approximately 4,500 tonnes of steel beams will be lowered 1.5 km underground...
Japanese Eels Have Two Types of Sperm
Japan consumes more than 130,000 tonnes of eel annually, making the species a multi‑billion‑dollar market. Eel fry are harvested from the wild and grown in ponds because captive breeding relies on artificial insemination, which currently yields low fertilization rates. A new...
China Hails Latest Breakthrough on Space Solar Power Technology
Chinese researchers have demonstrated a wireless power transmission system that can beam kilowatt‑level energy to multiple moving targets at the same time. The ground‑based test mimics the dynamics of an orbiting platform, marking a tangible step toward space‑based solar power...
Antarctic Plants May Face a Growing Fungal Threat From Warming Soils
Global warming is set to expand Antarctica’s tiny ice‑free plant zone, but new research shows it may also nurture soil‑borne fungal pathogens. Scientists analyzed DNA from over 50 soil samples spanning southern Chile to the Antarctic Peninsula and found that...
RAS Inhibition Enters Its Second Wave
RAS inhibition has moved into a second wave of drug development that goes beyond the KRAS G12C breakthrough. After sotorasib and adagrasib secured accelerated approvals for non‑small cell lung cancer and later for KRAS G12C‑mutated colorectal cancer, companies are targeting more prevalent...
The Next 15 Years of Moore’s Law, According to Imec
Imec’s new 15‑year roadmap predicts the commercial debut of complementary FET (CFET) technology around 2033, effectively stacking PMOS and NMOS devices to halve circuit area. The institute also foresees a shift to two‑dimensional semiconductor channels by 2041 to boost power...
Chemist Rebekka Klausen Wins Prestigious Brown Investigator Award
Synthetic chemist Rebekka Klausen, a Johns Hopkins professor, has secured the Brown Investigator Award, receiving up to $2 million over five years to explore three‑dimensional silicon polymers. Her lab focuses on silicon‑silicon bonds, aiming to uncover novel electronic and quantum phenomena...
Scientists Are Building Artificial Brains From Living Cells
Researchers at Princeton have engineered a 3D polymer‑mesh scaffold that lets tens of thousands of rat hippocampal neurons grow into a functional biological neural network. The device, called 3D‑MIND, integrates electrodes and microscopic wires, enabling recording of action potentials while...
Humans Are Killing California Joshua Trees. Can Fungi Save Them?
A National Park Service effort to replant 193 Joshua tree seedlings in Mojave National Preserve has yielded only a 14% survival rate, prompting scientists to investigate the cause. Led by Anne Polyakov, researchers are sampling soils for mycorrhizal fungi that...
Colossal Biosciences Is Growing Chickens in a 3D-Printed Artificial Eggshell
Colossal Biosciences unveiled a 3D‑printed, silicone‑lined artificial eggshell that can incubate chicken embryos outside a natural shell. The transparent plastic cup supplies oxygen through a specialized membrane, improving hatch rates compared with earlier synthetic systems. The breakthrough is part of...
Genetic Location of Primocane-Fruiting Discovered in Blackberries
A team of horticulture scientists led by University of Arkansas researcher Margaret Worthington identified a single genomic region on chromosome Ra03 that controls primocane‑fruiting in blackberries. Using genome‑wide association and linkage mapping, they pinpointed two DNA markers, PF1 and PF2,...
BioMarin Suffers Another Blow to Rare Disease Portfolio in Phase 3 Flop
BioMarin’s investigational enzyme replacement therapy BMN 401 lowered plasma inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) in the Phase 3 ENERGY 3 trial for ENPP1 deficiency, but it did not translate into clinical benefit. The study enrolled almost 30 children aged 1‑12 and missed the primary Radiographic...
Ammonium‐Anchored Mn‐Based Prussian Blue Analogues via Hydrogen Bonding for Robust Sodim‐Ion Battery Cathodes
Researchers have introduced a hydrogen‑bond anchoring technique that inserts tetrahedral NH4+ ions into the A‑site cavities of manganese hexacyanoferrate (MnHCF) Prussian blue analogues. The N‑H···N hydrogen bonds stabilize the framework at the molecular level, suppressing Jahn‑Teller distortion and preventing the...
Recent Advances in Hydrogel Electrolytes for Flexible Zinc Ion Batteries and Capacitors
Researchers highlight hydrogel electrolytes as a game‑changer for flexible zinc‑ion batteries and capacitors. The paper outlines how dendrite growth, corrosion, and hydrogen evolution undermine zinc anodes, and reviews self‑healing, extreme‑environment‑tolerant, and conductive‑network hydrogels that mitigate these issues. It details mechanisms...
ORNL Combines 3D Printing and High-Pressure Processing to Reshape Large-Scale Metal Part Production
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have 3‑D printed the canisters used in powder metallurgical hot isostatic pressing (PM‑HIP), removing the need for welding, machining and forming. The printed canisters enable near‑final‑shape production of large metal parts, cutting waste and shrinking...
Advanced High‐Entropy Biomaterials (HEBs)
The review outlines high‑entropy biomaterials (HEBs), a class of substances that blend five or more elements in near‑equiatomic ratios. Their four core effects—high entropy, severe lattice distortion, sluggish diffusion, and the cocktail effect—produce tunable mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and multifunctionality....
First Healthy Volunteers Receive TRIV-573 Doses in Triveni Bio’s Phase I Trial
Trivena Bio has dosed its first healthy volunteers in a Phase I trial of TRIV‑573, a half‑life‑extended bispecific antibody that simultaneously inhibits kallikreins 5/7 and blocks interleukin‑13. The dual‑target approach is designed to repair the skin barrier while curbing inflammation in moderate‑to‑severe...
Supramolecular Chiral Assembly of Open‐Shell Quinoids With Chiral Additives and Their Spin‐Dependent Transport in Magneto Field‐Effect Transistors
Researchers blended open‑shell quinoid molecules with the chiral additive 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamine (BN) and used thermal annealing to form stable co‑crystals. The process amplified the supramolecular chirality thirty‑fold, achieving an absorption dissymmetry factor (g_abs) of 1.23 × 10⁻². These chiral, spin‑bearing assemblies were incorporated...
How Early Brain Activity May Shape Speech-Linked Circuits Before Babies Ever Speak
Researchers at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University identified a ventromedial prefrontal cortex‑striatal circuit that becomes active just before neonatal mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations. Using activity tagging and circuit manipulation, they showed that stimulating this pathway boosts expression of the speech‑related gene...
Bats Create 'Silent Frequency Zones' To Detect Prey in Noisy Flight, Researchers Reveal
Researchers at Doshisha University and the American Museum of Natural History discovered that greater Japanese horseshoe bats actively create a "silent frequency zone" above their reference echo frequency. By adjusting their echolocation calls, the bats suppress clutter echoes, allowing faint...
New Smart Technology in Wearable Wristband May Detect Cardiac Arrest
A Dutch clinical trial (DETECT‑1b) tested a wrist‑worn photoplethysmography (PPG) device that automatically identifies cardiac arrest. Among 49 participants, the algorithm correctly flagged 92% of induced shockable events, achieving 100% detection for ventricular fibrillation and 90% for pulseless ventricular tachycardia....
Common Asthma Drug May Turn Off Tumor 'Switch' Tied to Immunotherapy Resistance
A Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Cancer shows that blocking the cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 1 (CysLTR1) with the asthma drug montelukast can reverse immunotherapy resistance in several aggressive cancers. Experiments in mouse models and analyses of human tumor samples demonstrated...
Reducing Cell Culture Contamination: Why Sterilisation Validation Matters in CO₂ Shaking Workflows
Cell culture contamination in CO₂ incubator shakers often goes unnoticed until experiments fail, costing labs time and resources. Traditional UV decontamination and HEPA filtration address only exposed surfaces or airborne particles, leaving hidden niches vulnerable. Eppendorf's CellXpert® CS220 introduces a...
Māori Climate Risk Worsened by Colonization, Report Finds
The 2026 National Climate Change Risk Assessment in New Zealand includes a dedicated companion report on Māori communities, concluding that centuries of colonisation have amplified climate risks to Māori land, health, culture and economy. It identifies seven interlinked risk domains and...
Scientists Found a Smarter Mediterranean Diet that Slashes Diabetes Risk by 31%
The PREDIMED‑Plus trial, the largest nutrition study in Europe, showed that a calorie‑reduced Mediterranean diet combined with moderate exercise and professional weight‑loss support cut the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 31% among 4,746 overweight adults aged 55‑75. Participants in the...
Research Bits: May 19
Researchers at the University of Washington unveiled a low‑power, electrically programmable photonic integrated circuit built with standard foundry processes, using phase‑change material to retain settings without power. MIT scientists demonstrated implosion carving to shrink hydrogel‑based optical features from 800 nm to...
Vaccine Experts Debate Options to Combat Outbreak of Unusual Ebola Strain
The World Health Organization convened a closed meeting of vaccine experts after the Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared a public‑health emergency. The outbreak has produced roughly 500 suspected cases and more than 130...
Avio Completes Its First Vega-C Launch for ESA
Avio successfully executed its first Vega‑C launch for the European Space Agency, delivering the SMILE solar‑wind telescope into orbit. This marks the first Vega‑C mission managed directly by Avio rather than Arianespace, signalling a shift in ESA’s launch procurement. The...
Micro-LEDs Light Up Nanowire Emitters for Chip-Scale Photonics
Researchers have demonstrated a transfer‑printing process that places micro‑LEDs directly atop indium‑phosphide nanowire emitters, creating a compact, electrically addressable photonic system. The integrated devices achieve small‑signal modulation in the tens‑of‑megahertz range at room temperature and deliver near‑infrared output around 860 nm....
String Theory Suddenly Emerged From Simple Physics Rules
A new study using the bootstrap approach shows that string theory’s core features—such as the infinite tower of particle states—emerge automatically from just two minimal scattering assumptions. Researchers at Caltech, NYU and the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies derived the...
A New Genetically Modified Rice Could Improve Children’s Health. But Will It Be Grown?
The Philippines has issued its first biosafety permit for HIZ039, a genetically modified rice enriched with iron and zinc, aiming to combat childhood anemia and stunting. Laboratory data show the grain triples iron and more than doubles zinc compared with...
New Therapies Could Help Type 1 Diabetes Care Move Beyond Insulin Alone
A recent review in The Journal of Clinical Investigation outlines emerging disease-modifying therapies for type 1 diabetes that aim to preserve beta‑cell function alongside insulin. The anti‑CD3 antibody teplizumab showed a single 14‑day course can postpone clinical onset by up to...