As unlikely as it might sound, our future health and happiness might be secured by humble bacteria that can pull carbon dioxide from the air, grow greener food and clean up pollution. Image: NIAID
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There’s a new way to eat carbon dioxide. Researchers have built an artificial version of a chloroplast, the photosynthetic structures inside plant cells. It uses sunlight and a laboratory-designed chemical pathway to turn CO2 into sugar. Image: Stewart
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Dr. Game: Surgeon Trouble will never rival the commercial success of Candy Crush Saga, a game that reportedly generated $1.5 billion in 2018 alone. But that isn’t the point. The aim of this free game is not to make money, but to make better doctors. Image: Level Ex
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Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem on Earth – and it could occur in space too. Bacteria exposed to trace quantities of an antibiotic while growing in simulated microgravity developed resistance to the drug. What’s more, they retained that resistance for more than 100 generations after the antibiotic was removed. Image: Kevin M. Gill
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Strands of artificial genetic material have been folded into 3D shapes of our own choosing for the first time. These parcels could be used to carry medicinal cargoes inside the body. Image: A.Taylor, F. Beuron, S-Y. Peak-Chew, E.P. Morris, P. Herdewijn, P. Holliger.
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Harder, better, faster, stronger. When cells cooperate, they achieve the otherwise impossible, something that could eventually lead to smart cancer therapies. Image: NIAID
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Sometimes two problems can cancel each other out. Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants could be put to good use, preventing fracking chemicals from contaminating drinking water supplies. Image: brims1285
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A solar eclipse can be alarming for animals and birds – and also for countries that rely on renewable energy, like Germany. Image: tj.blackwell
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Vast floating islands of plastic are just a drop in the ocean compared with what’s lurking deeper down. Between 5 and 13 million tonnes of plastic debris entered the marine environment in 2010 – and most of it is under water. What’s more, without improvements in the way we manage waste, it could be 10 times as much each year by 2025. Image: AbyssWriter
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It’s a small but significant step for microscopic machines. Tiny motors have journeyed through a living animal for the first time, delivering a test cargo of gold nanoparticles directly into the lining of a mouse’s stomach. Image: gIadius
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It’s impossible to be 100% secure online, but there are a few non-obvious tricks that anyone can use to be safer.
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It’s perhaps one of the most flouted rules of the road. Despite bans in many places, more than half of US drivers admit to using a mobile phone at least some of the time while driving, according to a report last week. So what does the evidence say about the risks? And could a new generation of connected cars make phoning on the road safer? Image: poka0059
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