(TED) – You’ve probably heard of CRISPR, the revolutionary technology that allows us to edit the DNA in living organisms. Biochemist and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Jennifer Doudna earned the Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking work in this field — and now she’s here to tell us about its next world-changing advancement. She explains how her team at the Innovative Genomics Institute is pioneering a brand new field of science — precision microbiome editing — that uses CRISPR in an effort to solve seemingly insurmountable problems like asthma, Alzheimer’s and climate change. This ambitious ide ..read more

(TIME) – To summarize: bio labs in the U.S. fall through the cracks of government oversight if they are privately operated (i.e., not academic or government), do not receive funding from the government, and are not working with select agents. These “invisible” labs have much more leeway to work with pathogens that are not select agents but could still cause outbreaks, severe illness, and death—a category that includes some of the ones that the Reedley lab acquired. A forthcoming report by Gryphon Scientific, the biosafety and public health consultancy where one of us works, estimates that abou ..read more

(BBC) – Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb. The Weizmann Institute team say their “embryo model”, made using stem cells, looks like a textbook example of a real 14-day-old embryo. It even released hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive in the lab. (Read More) The post Scientists Grow Whole Model of Human Embryo, Without Sperm or Egg first appeared on Bioethics.com ..read more

(Cell) – A human embryo’s legal definition and its entitlement to protection vary greatly worldwide. Recently, human pluripotent stem cells have been used to form in vitro models of early embryos that have challenged legal definitions and raised questions regarding their usage. In this light, we propose a refined legal definition of an embryo, suggest “tipping points” for when human embryo models could eventually be afforded similar protection to that of embryos, and then revisit basic ethical principles that might help to draft a roadmap for the gradual, justified usage of embryo mo ..read more

(Wired) – In nature, antibodies are the body’s response to disease and serve as the immune system’s front-line troops. They’re strands of protein that are specially shaped to stick to foreign invaders so that they can be flushed from the system. Since the 1980s, pharmaceutical companies have been making synthetic antibodies to treat diseases like cancer, and to reduce the chance of transplanted organs being rejected. But designing these antibodies is a slow process for humans—protein designers must wade through the millions of potential combinations of amino acids to find the ones that will fo ..read more

(Wired) – ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Have a Nice Future, Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode talk to Andrew Hessel, a scientist, writer, and entrepreneur, who is working to push forward the field of synthetic biology—the science of genetically modifying organisms for everything from vaccines to food production. They discuss how modified viruses can be used to treat a range of cancers, plus the wide ranging, science-fiction-like implications of the field. (Listen here) The post The Viruses That Could Cure Cancer (or Wipe Out Humanity) first appeared on Bioethics.com ..read more

(Vice) – Scientists have created a “living digital camera” that captures and stores images in DNA, the genetic code of all living things, reports a new study. The technique offers a novel approach to encoding digital information into biological material, an endeavor that has a host of potential future applications in computing and nanotechnology. (Read More) The post Scientists Create ‘Biological Camera’ That Stores Images in DNA first appeared on Bioethics.com ..read more

(Associated Press) – For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves. The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates. (Read More) The post ..read more

(Wired) – The cucumber-mimicking experiment is the first demonstration of plant-like tropism in an actuator, and it’s part of a move toward “soft” robotics, which use actuators built from fluid materials like cloth, paper, fibers, and polymers, rather than rigid metal joints, to prioritize versatile motion. Softness would improve robots in situations where flexibility and low-profile design are important, such as during surgery. And an autonomous soft robot could operate in places where there’s no electrical power supply—and no people. (Read More) The post This Artificial Muscle Moves Stuff on ..read more

(The New Yorker) – In recent years, the science of extending female reproductive longevity has seen a new flurry of interest, and biotech companies are attempting to begin clinical trials of a number of therapies, including new I.V.F. techniques and pharmaceuticals. (The research has earned philanthropic attention as well—Hayashi’s and Saitou’s labs are funded in part by Open Philanthropy, a foundation set up by the Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, the former journalist Cari Tuna.) But the ability to make egg cells without human ovaries would apply not only to people who are ..read more