COVID-19 is a stark reminder of how vulnerable our food supply and the agricultural industry is to new threats, says Peter Ford. Singapore has planned for food supply disruptions for…
Commentary: From farmers to supermarket clerks, a new kind of essential worker has emerged
Sarepta bags drug to fully unlock DMD gene therapy opportunity
Sarepta Therapeutics has secured a license to a drug that could enable more patients to receive its gene therapies. The deal grants Sarepta the exclusive right to use Hansa Biopharma’s imlifidase to…
AI Optimism And The Race For Talent
The first mover argument is a well-known hypothesis in economic circles that stresses on the need for being the first to utilize a highly disruptive technology. Being the first user…
The Future of Humanity Institute Releases Three Papers on Biorisks
Earlier this month, the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) released three new papers that assess global catastrophic and existential biosecurity risks and offer a cost-benefit analysis of various approaches to…
Why a sweaty workout dampens appetite
Exercise suppresses eating by heating up a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, according to a study in mice. Although it has long been clear that exercise can reduce…
US government considers charging for popular Earth-observing data
The US government is considering whether to charge for access to two widely used sources of remote-sensing imagery: the Landsat satellites operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and an…
Suspected chemical attack, opioid-crisis cash and nuclear-fusion facility
Suspected chemical attack in Syria An international team has begun an investigation into a suspected chemical-weapons attack on civilians in Douma (pictured), a besieged town in Syria. It is reported that…
We Have Developed An Antibody That Can Kill 99% Of All HIV Strains
Scientists have created a man-made antibody that has been found to attack 99% of all HIV strains. The tests were carried out on primates, but the drug’s manufacturer Sanofi has confirmed…
A Parkinson’s Drug Could Be Used To Stop Cancer Too
‘It would be truly something amazing.’ A drug commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease could be repurposed as cancer medication after trials demonstrated that it has significant anti-cancer effects. Carbidopa, a drug prescribed to…
A Relatively Simple Gene Therapy Procedure Could Reverse Blindness
For the first time, scientists have used gene therapy to successfully reverse blindness in mice suffering with an inherited condition, which causes people to lose their sight over time. Researchers at the Nuffield…