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San Francisco, 12:33 AM
Sat Dec 26
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Ten Science Stories That Changed Our Decade
There is no doubt that science has become more like science fiction in the past decade, with amazing innovations and discoveries that increased our understanding of the universe. We list ten of the biggest science stories from the past decade. More »Margaret Atwood Says She Doesn't Write Science Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin Disagrees
Margaret Atwood insists that her novels aren't science fiction, as everything she writes either has happened or could happen today. But in looking at Atwood's latest novel, The Year of the Flood, science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin disagrees. More »Monkeys Born Of Three Parents Usher In The Age Of The Super-Baby
Four baby monkeys each have three parents — proving that you could have more than two, but also that that mitochondrial swapping can breed out genetic diseases once and for all. But why stop at three parents? More »Scientists Create Dinosaurs By Tinkering With Chicken DNA
If dinosaurs are the ancestors of chickens, could genetic engineers turn the clock back on chicken DNA and recreate T-Rex? A Canadian researcher thinks it's possible, and has begun experiments to do just that. More »Is HBO the Next Destination for Science Fiction?
With some networks offering mixed signals about their futures with science fiction, we may increasingly rely on cable for compelling television about the future. Fortunately, HBO is stepping up, developing two new science fiction series with X-Files alum Frank Spotnitz. More »Regrow Lost Teeth! (With An Optional Fluorescent Glow)
It's a huge scientific breakthrough: a team from Tokyo's Research Institute for Science and Technology has designed a method for regrowing lost teeth. But you could also call it the newest bio-punk accessory: the regrown teeth have a fluorescent glow. More »Scientists Create Families of Mutant, Drug-Producing Rats
An entire industry is now devoted to producing pharmaceuticals from carefully-mutated animals. Now a biotech company has invented a way to create families of mutant rats who produce antibodies that could sold as medicine. More »A Drug To Re-Awaken Ancient Human Genes And Fight HIV
Goats Genetically Engineered to Produce Drugs in Their Milk
Designer Babies Are a Terrible Idea
Recently, we asked whether designer babies were OK. I’d like to reopen that discussion, because it’s such a complex question, with no easy answers. So let me start by saying: No, obviously they are not.Will It Soon Be Acceptable to Select the Sex of Your Baby?
BioBeer Fights Cancer and Gets You Drunk, Not Necessarily In That Order
Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for Transgenic, Glowing Animals
Today the Nobel Prize committee announced the Nobel in chemistry would go to a group of US and Japanese researchers who discovered the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in jellyfish and transformed it into one of the most powerful research tools in genomics. Although GFP can make glowing kitties (above), glowing bunnies, glowing monkeys and mice (below), it has far more important applications for medical research. The eye-catching protein is used as a visual tag, linked to other genes or cells that scientists are tinkering with. As a result, scientists can literally see the results of their experiments. Now you can too. More »Iain M. Banks: Humans Could Join the Culture via Genetic Engineering
Apparently scifi author Iain M. Banks (Matter, Consider Phlebas) believes that future humans could conceivably reach the advanced techno-political state of the Culture, a vast, intragalactic society he describes in several of his novels. And we'll get there via designer babies. Over at Biology in Science Fiction, Peggy quotes the author saying we'll become like his A.I.-loving Culture folk by "genetically modifying ourselves, I suspect." And he's figured out exactly how we'll do it. More »Posthumans, Rise Up And Destroy Hollywood!
Hard Scifi Flick "Splice" Actually Based on Internet-Rumor Science
Genetic Engineers Create Mice With Proto-Wings
Give Me Some (Artificial) Skin