Biologists are Engineering Kill Switches for GM Microbes
To keep old trains running, operators had to keep a firm grip on a dead man’s switch. If the operator became incapacitated or, well, dead, his hand would loosen, the…
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First Discovery of A Hibernating Primate Outside Madagascar
Hibernation is a state of energy conservation during which body temperature and metabolism are drastically reduced. If this state lasts longer than 24 hours, it is called hibernation. Shorter periods…
Human Gene Editing Gets Green Light
Human gene-editing research, even on embryos, is needed and should go ahead, with one major caveat: No pregnancies can result, leaders of an international summit on the topic said December…
Singing in the Brain
Male zebra finches, small songbirds native to central Australia, learn their songs by copying what they hear from their fathers. These songs, often used as mating calls, develop early in…
Biologists induce flatworms to grow heads and brains of other species
Biologists at Tufts University have succeeded in inducing one species of flatworm to grow heads and brains characteristic of another species of flatworm without altering genomic sequence. The work reveals…
Why are some wild animals more tolerant to human interaction than others?
When most wild animals first encounter humans, they respond as they would to any predator — by running, swimming or flying away. Over time, some species become more tolerant of…