Richard Slayman made history on March 16 by becoming the first living person to receive a genetically edited pig kidney. This week, the 62-year-old Massachusetts resident reached another milestone by being discharged from the hospital after his groundbreaking procedure. Now comes the hard part: making sure his transplanted organ keeps …
Read More »Why the East Coast Earthquake Covered So Much Ground
Friday morning at around 10:30 local time, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake popped three miles below Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Though nowhere near the magnitude of the West Coast’s monster quakes, the seismic waves traveled hundreds of miles, jostling not just nearby New York City, but Philadelphia and Boston and Washington, …
Read More »Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?
If you live in the US and missed the last total solar eclipse in 2017, good news! You're about to get another chance. There will be a total solar eclipse passing through Texas and the Midwest states on April 8. Remember that in a solar eclipse, the moon's shadow falls …
Read More »These Women Came to Antarctica for Science. Then the Predators Emerged
Content warning: This article includes scenes of physical and sexual harassment and assault. The trouble in Antarctica started in Boston. It was August 1999, and Stanford geologist Jane Willenbring was then a 22-year-old self-described “country bumpkin.” She had just arrived to start her master’s in earth science at Boston University. …
Read More »International Space Station Trash May Have Hit This Florida House
A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the roof of Alejandro Otero’s home, and NASA is on the case. In all likelihood, this nearly 2-pound object came from the International Space Station. Otero said it tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house …
Read More »‘In 24 Hours, You’ll Have Your Pills’: American Women Are Traveling to Mexico for Abortions
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español, and has been translated from Spanish. At 6 pm, after a long day at work and with her children out of the house, Tania (not her real name) takes four pills and waits for them to melt under her tongue. Six hours …
Read More »This Bag of Cells Could Grow New Livers Inside of People
For the first time, scientists are attempting to grow a new, miniature liver inside of a person. It sounds like science fiction; in fact, the idea was the plot of a Grey’s Anatomy episode that aired in 2018. Now, biotech company LyGenesis is trying to turn the concept into reality. …
Read More »Scientists Are Unlocking the Secrets of Your ‘Little Brain’
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In recent decades, neuroscience has seen some stunning advances, and yet a critical part of the brain remains a mystery. I am referring to the cerebellum, so named for the Latin for “little brain,” which is situated like a bun …
Read More »One Couple's Quest to Ditch Natural Gas
This story originally appeared on Grist. It was produced by Grist and originally copublished with the Guardian. It's republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. My wife and I live in a green, two-story colonial at the end of a cul-de-sac in Burlington, Vermont. Each spring, the front …
Read More »Screen Time for Kids Is Fine! Unless It's Not
The anti-smartphone movement is having a moment. On March 25, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning children under 14 from social media platforms. In February, the UK government backed tighter guidance to keep children from using their smartphones at school. In the past year, grassroots organizations like Smartphone …
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