Science

Why happiness is not the best indicator of well-being

Achieving values and pursuing growth is the real secret to a fulfilled life.

Jason Crawford

How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology

Stephen Johnson

A vibrant graphic illustration featuring a large leafy plant with integrated plant sensors, comic-style speech bubbles containing exclamation marks, and a round bubble depicting ants, set against a blue textured background.

Agriculture

Plant sensors could act as an early warning system for farmers

Using sensors made from carbon nanotubes, researchers discovered signals that help plants respond to stresses like heat, light, or attack.

Anne Trafton | MIT News Office

Inventions

5 recent breakthroughs that completely changed electronics

From wearable electronics to microscopic sensors, new advances are bringing "impossible" electronics to life.

Ethan Siegel

Genetics

Genetically modified barley can grow meat protein

An Icelandic firm is growing genetically modified barley plants with special “growth factors” that could create lab-grown meat.

Teresa Carey

CRISPR

CRISPR is revolutionizing medicine — its origin story is pretty incredible, too

The origin story of CRISPR highlights how groundbreaking discoveries can emerge from run-of-the-mill research.

Jonny Thomson

Neuroscience

Here’s why sensory perception research was awarded a Nobel Prize

Physiologists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their research on human sensory perception.

Tim Brinkhof

Agriculture

Scientists convert CO2 into synthetic starch

A process for making synthetic starch from CO2 eliminates the need for growing resource-intensive starchy plants.

Kristin Houser

CRISPR

This gene-edited tomato may help lower your blood pressure

A gene-edited tomato that may be able to lower your blood pressure is the first CRISPR-edited food to be sold commercially.

Kristin Houser

CRISPR

Gene-edited fish grow up to 60% more muscle

A gene-edited fish that grows up to 60% more muscle on the same amount of feed could help revitalize Japan’s aquaculture industry.

Kristin Houser

Food

Study suggests preserving food using tech developed for organs

By preserving food with isochoric freezing, we could improve quality and decrease energy usage in the frozen food industry, say scientists.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Can the woolly mammoth save Siberia from climate change?

Harvard geneticist George Church’s new de-extinction startup aims to resurrect the woolly mammoth to help combat permafrost thaw.

Kristin Houser

Engineering

UK building road with “wonder material” graphene

The United Kingdom is launching a world’s first trial to test whether adding graphene to recycled asphalt can increase a highway’s lifespan.

Kristin Houser

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