In 1976, NASA’s Viking landers conducted a series of biological experiments designed to determine whether or not there was life present in the soil on Mars’ surface, the only such tests conducted on another planet. The results of the tests, at least at the time, perplexed the scientists in charge of the Viking landers’read more
Medical researchers have discovered that a genetic mutation may be responsible for why some people who test positive for COVID-19 do not develop symptoms, while the disease proves to range between mildly debilitating and downright lethal to others. This mutation, one responsible for regulation of the immune system, appears toread more
[The body of this article wound up going missing at some point, leaving the posting empty. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. ~Matt] Microbiologists have discovered what is now known as the world’s largest bacterium, a single-celled organism large enough to be seen with the naked eye,read more
Medical researchers have saved the life of a seven-year-old boy by growing genetically-modified replacement skin for him. The young German boy suffered from a deadly congenital condition called epidermolysis bullosa, a condition that cases the sufferer’s skin to tear and blister, as if it had been burned. The procedure not only saved his life, but he’s now able to participate in sports with his classmates.
By 2015 the patient had been admitted to the burns unit at Bochum Children’s Hospital in Germany: at that point, two-thirds of his skin was either was either badly damaged or outright missing, and traditional treatments failed to yield results, including skin grafts from a donor.
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