Science

National Academies report paves a path for future germline editing, but only under strict conditions. The joint report from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine outlines several criteria that should be met before allowing genome editing clinical trials to move forward. According to the report, these editing tools could one day be used on human …

New and strange footage from NASA’s live feed of the International Space Station appears to show six large objects scurrying by. This is not the first time this sight has been seen, but this instance contains unique characteristics. The 31 second video appears to focus on the outside of the American station and within seconds, ‘six large’ glowing orbs crept …

On Saturday, SpaceX is launching a key piece of NASA technology that could one day allow satellites to repair other spacecraft already in orbit. It’s called the Raven, and it’s a module that’s going to test out a novel type of navigation system for space. As they worked on the project, engineers took special notice of the module’s three optical …

Microbes found stowed inside giant crystals in caves in Chihuahua, Mexico, may have survived there for tens of thousands of years. The extraordinary micro-organisms were found trapped in crystal in a volcanically heated Mexican cave system where temperatures reach 60C (140F). Some of them are believed to have been there for 60,000 years and were shut off from light or …

A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill reveals he was open to the possibility of life on other planets. The worldwide media was exercised over the surfacing of what was alleged to be an unpublished Churchill article, held by the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri, in which our author contemplates the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The Museum, which received …

A U of T Engineering innovation could make printing solar cells as easy and inexpensive as printing a newspaper. Dr. Hairen Tan and his team have cleared a critical manufacturing hurdle in the development of a relatively new class of solar devices called perovskite solar cells. This alternative solar technology could lead to low-cost, printable solar panels capable of turning …

In 2015, the IAU organised the NameExoWorlds contest, which provided the first opportunity for the public to submit names for exoplanets and their stars. As a result, the names of 19 ExoWorlds (14 stars and 31 exoplanets orbiting them) were chosen by public vote, and accepted by the IAU. These names became the official designations of the exoplanets and stars. …

Researchers say they have found organic compounds on the dwarf planet Ceres, boosting the tiny world’s attractiveness in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. A study, published in Science by planetary scientists in Italy and the US, “opens the possibility that primitive life could have developed on Ceres itself”, writes the European Space Agency’s Michael Kueppers in an accompanying Perspectives piece. …

After being deemed one of the most polluted areas of Howe Sound, aquatic life has started to return to the waters around the old Britannia Mine site. But despite ongoing remediation efforts at the site, metals continue to leach from unknown sources. The Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute (CORI) said pollutants from the old Britannia Mine still linger in …

Federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the establishment of the new Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area to safeguard the globally unique and important aquatic environment that provides key habitats for marine wildlife. The Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area is located between Haida Gwaii and the mainland …

The Alps may lose 70 percent of snow cover by the end of the 21st century if humanity does not control global warming, says new research. The new study, by researchers based at the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) and at the CRYOS Laboratory at the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Switzerland, shows that the Alps could lose as …