For The Better

Scientists have taken a big step forward in their quest to design a modular, genetically engineered kill switch that integrates into any genetically engineered microbe, causing it to self-destruct under certain defined conditions.

A new study found concrete evidence that more than 85 percent of the grouper and snapper studied are overfished as a direct result of increasing human demand for seafood.

Field surveys conducted in the days after the 7 January 2020 Puerto Rico earthquake documented more than 300 landslides and severe liquefaction in southern coastal regions, according to a new study.

Astronomers have discovered an unusual massive cluster of young galaxies forming in the early universe. The newly discovered growing galactic metropolis, named MAGAZ3NE J095924+022537, is a newborn galaxy cluster, or protocluster, consisting of at leas…

A common virus that causes no harm in most people may be a danger to organ transplant recipients and other immunocompromised people, researchers have found.

What a person eats influences a person’s health, longevity and experience in the world. Identifying the factors that determine people’s diets is important to answer the bigger questions, such as how changing climates will influence unequal access to pr…

Scientists applied their flash Joule heating process to coal fly ash and other toxic waste to safely extract rare earth elements essential to modern electronics and green technologies.

Researchers studying giant Amazonian waterlilies have unraveled the engineering enigma behind the largest floating leaves in nature.

People adopt different social behavior depending on the context they’re in. A deeply generous friend may be a cutthroat colleague, for example. Using a game theory framework, researchers find that context-dependent behavior doesn’t stop cooperation fro…

The way we experience the world occurs due to complex and intricate interactions between neurons in the brain. Now, a study suggests that astrocytes — star-shaped, non-neuronal cells in the brain — might also play an important role in processing info…

Researchers have developed a new approach for shape changing at the material level. They use rubber, metal, and temperature to morph materials and fix them into place with no motors or pulleys.

Fungal disease represents one of the greatest threats to tree industries and forests in the United States. They’re carried by invasive wood borers from overseas. A pre-invasion risk assessment tested 111 fungi samples extracted from 55 Eurasian beetles…