Mitch Leslie

6 days ago | blog.sciencenet.cn | Nala Rogers |Jon Cohen |Nazeefa Ahmed |Mitch Leslie

Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)1. Culture literally changes how we see the worldWhere city dwellers see rectangles, people who live in round huts see circles 20 Jun 2025  By Nala Rogers2. Always ‘one atom away’: The long, rocky journey to an HIV prevention breakthroughDeveloping lenacapavir, the drug newly approved to protect against HIV for six months in one shot, took basic science, sophisticated chemistry, and perseverance 20 Jun 2025  By Jon Cohen3.

Aug 30, 2024 | mbl.edu | Mitch Leslie

By Mitch Leslie | Science August 30, 2024 MBL Senior Scientist Irina Arkhipova is quoted in this article. Made-to-order gene could be so toxic that cells only assemble it in emergenciesViruses plague bacteria as well as people, and some bacteria deploy what one scientist calls a “crazy molecular mechanism” to defend themselves, two studies published in Science this month reveal. The bacteria conjure up an entirely new gene that isn’t normally in their repertoire.

Jul 18, 2024 | science.org | Sarah Crespi |Adrian Cho |Mitch Leslie

First up this week, Staff Writer Adrian Cho talks with host Sarah Crespi about a fusion company that isn’t aiming for net energy. Instead, it’s looking to sell off the high-energy neutrons from its fusion reactors for different purposes, such as imaging machine parts and generating medical isotopes. In the long run, the company hopes to use money from these neutron-based enterprises for bigger, more energetic reactors that may someday make fusion energy.

May 17, 2024 | science.org | Mitch Leslie

Many influencers, athletes, and regular folks swear by ketogenic diets—skimping on carbs and feasting on fats to quickly shed pounds and improve their metabolism. Yet piling on the bacon and skipping the pancakes could come with a dangerous downside, according to a new study. Mice fed a particular type of ketogenic diet accumulated so-called senescent cells in their organs, researchers report today in Science Advances.

Jan 8, 2024 | portside.org | Mitch Leslie

Sunday Science: Giant Project Will Chart Human Immune Diversity To Improve Drugs and Vaccines Published January 7, 2024 The hepatitis B vaccine is one of the most potent immunizations, usually providing decades of protection against the deadly liver virus. But in about 10% of people it doesn’t work, and in 2020, Amy Huei-Yi Lee, a systems biologist at Simon Fraser University, and her colleagues set out to determine whether they could predict who would benefit.