The Measles Might Make Your Body “Forget” Its Own Immunity
In June 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that rinderpest—a deadly disease affecting cattle and other ungulates, related to measles—had been eradicated from the earth. A month later, The...
Can CRISPR Save Tufty Fluffytail?
When Beatrix Potter wrote The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, it was 1903, and the squirrels that populated her books were the English countryside’s native Eurasian red (Sciurus vulgaris), with tufted...
Stuck in the Midden with You
To paraphrase an old adage, one species’ garbage is another’s bounty (of research material). Refuse sites called middens can be as simple as a single household’s outdoor pit, or an...
When Cancer Spreads between Species
If you’re a multicellular organism (and you are), you’re at some risk to get cancer (with very few exceptions). The disease is both simple (uncontrolled cell proliferation) and exceedingly complex...
What’s in a (Planet) Name?
January 1, 2020 will be the first anniversary of the spacecraft New Horizon’s visit to Arrokoth, a minor planet 4 billion miles away from ours—the farthest object ever visited by...
We’re Living in a Post-Antibiotic World
On November 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a 148-page report on antibiotic resistance in the U.S., and the threat it poses to us. It presents...
Smart Toilets: The Jetpack of the Bathroom
On first read, “smart toilet” may sound oxymoronic, but with the advent of receptacles that can play music, warm their seats, double as bidets, and even adjust themselves for elderly...
Sundials, Sentiments, and S-Town
S-Town, the record-breaking podcast released on March 28th to a wave of critical acclaim and (some concern), was envisioned by its creators to be a podcast as novel. Host &...
Rory Gilmore: The New New Woman
Recently, Netflix brought us the Gilmore Girls revival–Rory, Lorelei, and Emily 10 years on, able to “end” the show as its creator intended. The return prompted multiple articles about whether...