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Start-Up Claims to Use A.I.-Created Viruses to Treat a Patient
Certain viruses attack bacteria and can sometimes clear antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers said they had tailored a virus to attack one patient’s illness.
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How Did Life Arise? Three Turning Points in Early Evolution
Where did it start? How did it grow complex? Why did it get big? Three moments in Earth’s early history when evolution suddenly, inexplicably turned up the dial.
These Mice Have Partly Human Brains
The animals may help reveal the causes of brain disease in people and point the way to treatments. But researchers already are calling for new ethical guidelines.
A.I. Queries From Abroad Raise Fears of a Biological Weapons Race
Today’s chatbots aren’t likely to help lone actors invent a deadly pathogen, experts say. But newer models, trained in biology, may need stronger safeguards.
This A.I. Just Created Viruses Not Found in Nature
Scientists trained artificial intelligence on libraries of DNA and then asked the model to create recipes for viral genomes. Sixteen of them were viable, yielding new viruses.
‘This Is Very Strange’: Ancient Smallpox May Have Been Less Deadly
Scientists have found smallpox viruses in the remains of people in Chile from around 500 years ago, revealing how the virus may have evolved into a global killer.
Deep in This Lake, a Contagious Cancer Is Spreading
Transmissible tumors have been reported in a handful of animal species, but never before among fish. Is it possible in humans?
Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease
Following the pandemic, the federal government is spending $150 million on new technology to ensure clean indoor air. Here’s what scientists are pursuing.
A Deadly Outbreak of Plague, Nearly 5,000 Years Before the Black Death
The oldest known cases, discovered among hunter-gatherers in Siberian graves, contradict the theory that the disease once was mild.
Scientists Race to Test Treatments as Ebola Outbreak Widens
Trials are beginning on several drugs that have shown promise in preliminary studies against the virus that is causing the current outbreak.
Neil Shubin on Trusted Science in a ‘Deeply Partisan Age’
An eminent fossil hunter takes the reins at the National Academy of Sciences in a turbulent moment for American researchers.
In a First, Scientists Precisely Edit Human Embryo Genes
Researchers relied on a newer gene-editing technique that may make it possible to engineer embryos, a prospect that has long alarmed bioethicists.
As Ebola Spreads, Scientists Race to Find Vaccines and Treatments
The Bundibugyo virus, a little known type, previously had caused just two small outbreaks. Now it’s at the center of a rapidly widening epidemic in Africa.
Why the Ebola and Hantavirus Outbreaks Have Confounded Scientists
The types of Ebola and hantavirus worrying officials are very different from the species identified decades ago, raising new questions about how to respond.
