New technology is sometimes created by pushing the boundaries of what science can do. Sometimes, however, it takes the form of something very ancient. One group of scientists combined the two approaches in their search for improved ways to peek inside living cells. They genetically altered something very old—gas-propelled bacteria, one of the earliest mobile…
When a crime witness names the wrong person, it might result in the death of an innocent person while allowing the true culprit to go free. Eyewitnesses are frequently asked to choose the face they recall from a list of probable suspects and “fillers.” This usually entails staring at a line of individuals behind a…
The argument over the ethics of the famous material’s iconic material is one of the only things that seem to be more ageless than a leather jacket. Leather, like actual animal fur and feathers, is hotly disputed in the fashion business. It is primarily manufactured from the skins of bulls and calves. Veganism and the…
In my work as a scientist, I owe a great lot to serendipity. In 2012 I was in the right place (IBM’s Almaden research laboratory in California) at the right time—and I did the “wrong” thing. I was meant to be combining three chemicals in a beaker to generate a recognized substance. The objective was…