io9 
Enter your username and password.
-
more about #geneticengineering twDarkflame: "about how the public responds to scientific research." More like how the public responses to other peoples response's on scientific research. Few me... more » Bill-Lee: "and robotic arms controlled by monkey minds." I don't know why but that phrase makes me snicker. more » dr.baltar001: I would add the completion of the ISS since it's probably as big of a science project as the LHC in scope, although I think what it gives back may no... more » phoenix: This is an excellent wrap-up of really interesting and important science-related topics in the past 10 years. They're all sufficiently big, and they'r... more » AmishJohn: I'm waiting for the science breakthrough that automatically shoots these comment spammers in the neck. more » njdevil: Those are some tasty looking chromosomes... more » rek: Fight fight fight! more » Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: Ursula speaks the truth, beautifully. Everyone (esp. in CanLit) needs to read this. more » TheAlmanac: Atwood's nonsensical, elitist attitude towards classifying these works of hers is my single biggest pet peeve in CanLit, and I'm very glad to see some... more » Faustroll: Shorter Margret Atwood: "My book about a genetically modified, post apocalyptic world is not science fiction!" right. But if we judge it by the stan... more » Zyg: Why do people want to stay away from the genre? It is more popular today than ever. I believe Atwood is being pretentious and I think Le Guin is pulli... more » goldfarb: Science Fiction is a genre made up by publishers and book sellers in order to better market the product...which forces writers to conform to these cat... more » amygdala: Lots of writers have attempted to avoid the "ghetto" of science fiction by claiming that their books are something else. Michael Crichton might be wri... more » aosagi: The real problem is the tyranny of genre that exists in all art. If it's good it's good dammit, I don't care what you want to call it. Something lik... more » sjct: If a writer puts their story in the future or an alternate reality and there's some scientific element to it (like genetically modified humanoids) the... more » Jason Moreland-Basconcillo: By Atwood's definition the Handmade's Tail is not Sci Fi and she would be correct. Several of the themes of the novel occur to women each and everyday... more » braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: Just another example why any author's opinion of their own work should be immediately discarded. Atwood can, obviously, think whatever she likes if i... more » kickingvegas: This just in - Margaret Atwood writes "Sy Fy" genre fiction. more » GregoryLazork: I'd say it's not Sci-Fi, because it just isn't. But it wants to be... like The Road (Atwood and McCarthy might be good writers of literature, but they... more » RandomFrequentFlierDent-Hogswatch!: This kind of makes me feel bad for Atwood. I’ve really enjoyed a lot of her books, but I just don’t know what she could have been thinking when sh... more » -
#decadeinreview
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 » -
#margaretatwood
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 » -
#supermonkeys
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 » -
#evolution
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 » -
#hbo
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 » -
#madscience
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 » -
#madscience
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 » -
#geneticengineering
A Drug To Re-Awaken Ancient Human Genes And Fight HIV
"Junk DNA" are inactive parts of your genome, switched off long ago in evolutionary history. Now scientists say there's a junk gene that fights HIV. And they've discovered how to turn it back on.
More »
-
-
#jivetarkin
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. -
#madscience
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 » -
#iainmbanks
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 »
