E. coli can cause severe illness, but is also often used in drug development VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY We have gone further than ever before in creating life that is unlike anything that has evolved naturally. The genome of an Escherichia coli bacterium has been redesigned on a computer to use just 57 of…
The Brain Fires Up Immune Cells When Sick People Are Nearby When people viewed virtual avatars with coughs or rashes, their brain triggered an immune response By Katie Kavanagh & Nature magazine Brain areas that help to monitor the envelope of space close to a person are involved in firing up immune cells when infection…
A ribosome (centre) producing a protein (red) from mRNA. The dark purple strands represent transfer RNA, which are also involved in protein production We may have discovered a fundamental cause of cellular ageing that underlies many other ageing processes in cells. A study of the brains of freshwater fish called killifish has shown that, as…
Miniature Neutrino Detector Promises to Test the Laws of Physics A relatively small detector caught neutrinos from a nuclear reactor using a technique known as coherent scattering By Davide Castelvecchi & Nature magazine A nuclear power plant in Liebstadt, Switzerland, hosted the CONUS+ neutrino detector. Andreas Haas/dieBildmanufaktur/Alamy Physicists have caught neutrinos from a nuclear reactor…
Targeting the vagus nerve has shown medical promise for a range of health conditions Science Photo Library/Alamy The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a vagus nerve stimulator for rheumatoid arthritis – the first such device to be cleared for an autoimmune condition, potentially paving the way for broader uses. The pill-sized device…
Allergens May Make Us Cough and Sneeze by Poking Holes in Airway Cells The immune system senses damage to cell membranes caused by pore-forming proteins and mounts a response By Rachel Fieldhouse & Nature magazine Fcafotodigital/Getty Images The sneezing, itchy eyes and coughing elicited by some allergens are caused by proteins creating holes in airway…
The coastline of Shiogama, Japan as a tsunami warning had been issued after a huge earthquake Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images Millions of people were safely evacuated due to tsunami warnings rapidly issued after a powerful earthquake rumbled off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula on 29 July. Though the quake didn’t end up generating…
An ancient cradle of evolution may have been discovered in the striped cliffs of the Grand Canyon. Paleontologists have found an exceptionally well-preserved trove of fossils in the greenish shales of the Bright Angel Formation. Today, these shales overlook the Colorado River from various points throughout the canyon, but they formed roughly half a billion…
What Books Scientific American Read in July Check out Scientific American’s fiction and nonfiction book recommendations for July By Brianne Kane edited by Andrea Gawrylewski Fernando Trabanco Fotografía/Getty Images July 2025 has been a sweltering month, but we at Scientific American have still squeezed in some fun in the sun and a hot dog or…
Potato tubers are the result of an ancient hybridisation event Jackie Bale/Getty Images The humble potato, it turns out, is the product of a tryst between an ancient tomato plant and a lesser-known South American lineage named Etuberosum. Etuberosum plants are often described as looking like a potato plant, except for one crucial difference –…
