Shelly Fan

Scientists have long been interested in metformin, a widely prescribed drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, for its potential to delay aging.

Scientists suggest we might conserve pandas by converting their skin cells into stem cells—and eventually reproductive cells for breeding.

Scientific breakthroughs rely on decades of diligent work and expertise, sprinkled with flashes of ingenuity and, sometimes, serendipity.

With a brain the size of a sesame seed, the lowly fruit fly is often considered a kitchen pest. But to neuroscientists, the flies are a treasure trove of information detailing how the brain’s intricate connections guide thoughts, decisions, and memories—not just for the critters, but also for us.

A new paper is sparking debate with its finding that, despite progress in medicine, increases in life expectancy are slowing.

Living drugs like these are costly. By using donor cells, the new study hints we might be able to mass produce them in the future and thereby slash costs.

When scientists discovered permafrost ice caps on Mars’ north pole in 1976, the news immediately sparked speculation about potential life on the red planet. The later discovery of exposed ice on the south pole further teased the idea.

“We’re only just beginning to understand the full majesty of life on Earth,” wrote the founding members of the Earth BioGenome Project in 2018. The ambitious project raised eyebrows when first announced. It seeks to genetically profile over a million plants, animals, and fungi. Documenting these genomes is the first step to building an atlas of complex life on Earth.

When I was a young kid, our neighborhood didn’t have any grocery stores. The only place to buy fruits and vegetables was at our local farmer’s market. My mom would pick out the freshest tomatoes and sauté them with eggs into a simple dish that became my comfort food.

Rather than training the algorithm on content scraped from the internet, scientists trained the AI on nearly three million genomes.