Tag Archives: CRISPR

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 25, 2024

Volume 631 Issue 8022

Nature Magazine – July 24, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Garbage Out’ – AI models trained on AI generated data descend into gibberish…

Found: the hidden link between star-forming molecular clouds

Connections between three interstellar clouds of gas and dust offer a glimpse into their birth.

How the watermelon got its sweet taste and rosy hue

Genomic analysis reveals the complex roots of the modern fruit.

Massive cicada emergence prompted raccoons to run wild

Meanwhile, deer kept a low profile — perhaps because the deafening noise of the insects made it hard to hear predators.

Blowout! Satellites reveal one of the largest methane leaks on record

An oil well in Kazakhstan dumped more than 100,000 tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 18, 2024

Volume 631 Issue 8021

Nature Magazine – July 17, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Long Reach’ – Salamander-like fossil expands geogrpahical range of early tetrapods…

AI tool can pinpoint dementia’s cause — from stroke to Alzheimer’s

Algorithm that distinguishes among a host of underlying causes of dementia could be used for diagnosis in hospitals and clinics.

Most accurate clock in history made by ‘quieting’ atoms

Strontium-based timepiece gains or loses only one second every 40 billion years.

Storm-chasing seabirds served supper by cyclones

The ocean-going Desertas petrel often follows storms for days over thousands of kilometres.

Wine grapes’ sweetness reveals Europe’s climate history

Records on the quality of the grape harvest sheds light on 600 years of weather.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 11, 2024

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Nature Magazine – July 10, 2024: The latest issue features Frog Sauna – Sun-warmed refuge helps amphibians fight deadly fungal infection…

The surprising driver of Amazon deforestation

Demand from Brazil itself accounts for more than half of the demand for crops and livestock from the Amazon and the savannah that surrounds it.

Fake jewellery from the Stone Age looks like the real deal

‘Amber’ beads dating to the Neolithic period, lasting from the fifth to the third millennium BC, are actually mollusc shells coated with resin and natural pigments.

Killer immune cells pile on the pressure to slay their foes

Immune-system assassins called killer T cells compress target cells, forming a destructive crater.

Ants amputate their nest-mates’ legs to save lives

The location of an injury determines whether ants bite off or preserve a damaged limb.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 27, 2024

Volume 630 Issue 8018

Nature Magazine – June 26, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Popcorn Planet’ – Tidal heating puffs up exoplanet’s atmosphere…

‘Smart’ fabric protects against heat of city streets

Textile keeps its cool even when surrounded by urban surfaces that absorb and release heat.

How huge black holes sprouted just after the Big Bang

Hubble observations of faint galaxies suggest that such objects could have been the seeds of very early supermassive black holes.

Autoimmune antibodies tied to lower malaria risk in kids

Findings support one idea about why self-directed immune responses are more common in some populations.

A mighty river’s radical shift changed the face of ancient Egypt

Samples taken near a capital of the pharaohs reveal an overhaul of the Nile 4,000 years ago.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 20, 2024

Volume 630 Issue 8017

Nature Magazine – June 19, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Soar Point’ – Air sacs below the wings help soaring birds to glide…

Ancient graves reveal taxes’ sharp bite nearly 3,000 years ago

Buried items show that the poor got poorer as the Assyrian empire and its bureaucracy swelled.

CRISPR improves a crop that feeds billions

The gene-editing system, normally used to disrupt a gene, is applied to improve the function of a gene in rice.

How cutting-edge computer chips are speeding up the AI revolution

Engineers are harnessing the powers of graphics processing units (GPUs) and more, with a bevy of tricks to meet the computational demands of artificial intelligence.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – Feb 29, 2024

 and Bo Xia

Volume 626 Issue 8001

Nature Magazine – February 28, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Tale of the Tails’ – How a genetic element aided tail loss in humans and apes; RNA-editing therapies for genetic diseases have in the past few months gained approval for clinical trials, raising hopes for safer treatments…

Move over, CRISPR: RNA-editing therapies pick up steam

Two RNA-editing therapies for genetic diseases have in the past few months gained approval for clinical trials, raising hopes for safer treatments.

200 years of naming dinosaurs: scientists call for overhaul of antiquated system

Some palaeontologists want more rigorous guidelines for naming species, along with action to address problematic historical practices.

MEGA-CRISPR tool gives a power boost to cancer-fighting cells

A system that edits RNA rather than DNA can give new life to exhausted CAR T cells.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine- January 18, 2024

Volume 625 Issue 7995

Nature Magazine – January 17, 2024: The latest issue cover features the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki, thought to be the largest primate that ever lived, which lived in China between 2 million and 300,000 years ago.

Why the immune response to a vaccine varies from person to person

A dormant immune system before receiving the BCG vaccine is tied to a greater innate immune response afterwards.

The Higgs boson is caught in a singular transformation

Detectors at the Large Hadron Collider spot the famed particle decaying into a photon and a ‘Z boson’.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine January 11, 2024

Volume 625 Issue 7994

Nature Magazine – January 10, 2024: The latest issue cover features Steppe Change’ – Migration and lifestyle shifts in prehistoric Eurasia linked to raised genetic risk of multiple sclerosis.

Cancer-fighting CAR T cells could be made inside body with viral injection

Scientists are devising ways to edit the genomes of immune cells without having to extract them from the people being treated.

Japan earthquakes: the science behind the deadly tremors

A massive quake that triggered tsunamis, fires and multiple aftershocks was the largest on the country’s west coast in more than a century.

Boosting microbiome science worldwide could save millions of children’s lives

Studies of the microbes living on and in our bodies are conducted mainly in a few rich countries, squandering opportunities to improve the health of people globally.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine January 4, 2024

Volume 625 Issue 7993

Nature Magazine – January 3, 2024: The latest issue cover features  an artist’s impression of a massive young star in the process of forming.

US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving ‘ignition’ over and over

NIF beamlines entering the lower hemisphere of the NIF Target Chamber, as seen from the ground floor of the Target Bay.

Researchers at the National Ignition Facility are consistently creating reactions that make more energy than they consume.

By Jeff Tollefson

In December 2022, after more than a decade of effort and frustration, scientists at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) announced that they had set a world record by producing a fusion reaction that released more energy than it consumed — a phenomenon known as ignition. They have now proved that the feat was no accident by replicating it again and again, and the administration of US President Joe Biden is looking to build on this success by establishing a trio of US research centres to help advance the science.

DeepMind AI outdoes human mathematicians on unsolved problem

A player holds a hand of Set game cards over a green table.

Large language model improves on efforts to solve combinatorics problems inspired by the card game Set.

Davide Castelvecchi

The card game Set has long inspired mathematicians to create interesting problems.

Now, a technique based on large language models (LLMs) is showing that artificial intelligence (AI) can help mathematicians to generate new solutions.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine Dec 21, 2023

Volume 624 Issue 7992

Nature Magazine – December 20, 2023: The latest issue cover features ten people who helped to shape science during the year. The cover takes its inspiration from one of the developments that dominated the year: artificial intelligence. 

From Einstein to AI: how 100 years have shaped science

Looking back a century reveals how much the research landscape has changed 

Earth is warming but Mount Everest is getting chillier

Winds triggered by climate change sweep cold air down from the summit of Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks, leading to a cooling trend.

ChatGPT and science: the AI system was a force in 2023 — for good and bad

The poster child for generative AI software is a startling human mimic. It represents a potential new era in research, but brings risks.