Health

The future of fertility, from artificial wombs to AI-assisted IVF

A look back at the history of infertility treatments and ahead to the tech that could change everything we thought we knew about reproduction.

Kristin Houser

Overlay of hands and abstract patterns in purple and blue tones, symbolizing hope for Parkinson's cure.

Drugs

The exciting research that may cure Parkinson’s

GeneCode is developing a drug it hopes won’t just alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms but also protect and restore patient’s neural health.

Kevin Dickinson

A child sitting on a couch in a dimly lit room, holding and looking intently at a tablet, as if testing the Goldilocks hypothesis for the perfect screen brightness.

Mental Health

Beyond screen time: Rethinking kids’ tech use with the “Goldilocks hypothesis”

The “Goldilocks hypothesis” asks parents to think beyond screen time and consider the habits that teens build around technology use.

Kevin Dickinson

Coronavirus

Robots are running COVID-19 drug development

IBM’s new online platform, RoboRXN, combines artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and robotics to automate the COVID-19 drug development process.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

Pocket-sized bot can perform surgery better than humans

A tiny origami-inspired robot assists surgeons in a mock surgery.

Teresa Carey

Coronavirus

A patient’s sex may affect their COVID-19 immune response

Key differences in the COVID-19 immune response of men and women could potentially explain a disparity in patient outcomes.

Kristin Houser

Virology

Influenza virus may be transmitted by particles in the air

Airborne particles like dust and dander not caused by breathing — “aerosolized fomites” — may be a route of influenza virus transmission.

B. David Zarley

Coronavirus

The social distancing traffic light

Assessing your COVID-19 risk for everyday activities will be key to some kind of normalcy. Now, researchers want to add nuance to social distancing.

B. David Zarley

Coronavirus

$5 COVID-19 test could be a game changer in the US

Abbott Laboratories’ $5 COVID-19 test has secured an FDA authorization, meaning the U.S. now has access to a fast, accurate antigen test.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Redesigned syringe could increase global access to medicine

A double-barrel syringe developed at MIT makes it possible to inject highly viscous biologics, making them more accessible to patients.

Kristin Houser

Healthcare

A health app could someday detect heart disease via selfies

Researchers in Beijing created a new deep learning algorithm, which claims to detect signs of heart disease in the human face.

Teresa Carey

Medicine

“Antivitamins” could be the cure for antibiotic resistance

The B1 antivitamin helps bacteria kill competing bacteria, leading researchers to suspect it could help us fight antibiotic resistance and superbugs.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

Why COVID-19 patients lose their sense of smell

Researchers have identified cells that are most susceptible to the novel coronavirus. They also support neurons associated with the sense of smell.

Teresa Carey

Sections

Series & Columns

Freethink

We focus on solutions: the smartest people, the biggest ideas, and the most ground breaking technology shaping our future.