Science

Side by side of mouse embryos. The one on the left appears to be developing normally, but the one on the right has an extra pair of legs.

How turning off one gene causes mice to grow 6 legs

A study of embryo development in mice led to the creation of a mutant mouse fetus with an extra pair of legs in place of genitals.

Kristin Houser

a rendering of three massive silver containers with "Ark" written on them

Food

This startup is trying to solve lab-grown meat’s biggest problem

A biotech startup has developed a new kind of bioreactor that could help increase cultivated meat production.

Kristin Houser

A man in a suit stands next to a robotic arm with computer-brain interfaces on a stage under blue lighting.

Big Tech

In a future with brain-computer interfaces like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, we may need to rethink freedom of thought

In a future with more “mind reading,” thanks to computer-brain interfaces, we may need to rethink freedom of thought.

Parker Crutchfield

Clean Energy

Open-sourcing the blueprints for a nuclear power plant

The Energy Impact Center has open-sourced nuclear power plant blueprints in an attempt to encourage the adoption of eco-friendly nuclear energy.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Should we turn chickens into dinosaurs?

5:38

These scientists are studying chickens to learn more about dinosaur DNA, and their findings could help us better understand our own genetic code.

Agriculture

"Doomsday" seed vault now contains over 1 million samples

Norway's Svalbard Global Seed Vault, also known as the “Doomsday” Vault, now contains more than one million varieties of seeds from across the globe.

Kristin Houser

Series| Biohackers

The cyborg artist who hears color

6:13

Neil Harbisson was born colorblind. Now he has an antenna implant in his skill to hear color and create beautiful works of art.

Series| Biohackers

I got a chip implanted in a biohacking garage

7:05

Hacker surgeons like Jeffrey Tibbetts implant everything from compasses to wireless routers. Freethink’s own Chase Pipkin decided to try it out.

Series| Guardians of the Apocalypse

Geoengineering: Our last defense against climate change

5:26

Reflecting the sun’s rays is a proposed last-ditch effort to mitigate the effects of global warming. This Harvard research team is trying to better understand the potential risks in order to save the planet.

Neuroscience

Stimulating monkeys’ brains snaps them out of unconsciousness

Researchers found that they could induce a state of consciousness in an unconscious monkey by electrically stimulating a specific part of the animal’s brain.

Kristin Houser

Series| Guardians of the Apocalypse

Will we ever predict earthquakes?

8:25

In 2010, an earthquake killed 222,570 people in Haiti, injuring 300,000 and displacing over a million. In an attempt to discover how to predict earthquakes, these researchers are using machine learning to analyze the acoustic data from tectonic plates.

Series| Guardians of the Apocalypse

Could the human race survive a supervolcano?

4:51

The eruption of Mount Tambora pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. Today, active supervolcanoes still have the power to nullify our future. What can we do to prepare?

Series| The Edge

Top athletes are shocking their brains with tDCS

6:27

Why are professional athletes using brain-zapping headsets? This tDCS device creates a state of hyper-learning, which could help improve their performance.

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