As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Scientists Print Human Brain Tissue. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

man holding a glowing human brain - deposit photos

For the first time, scientists have generated functional human brain tissue using a 3D printer. Scientists printed the tissue to be less than 0.01 inch (0.02 centimeter) thick, and it contains both nerve cells and supporting cells called glia. All of these cells can communicate with one another and form networks, as they would in … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: What is Epigenetics?

Old woman's hands - deposit photos

Why do common shrews live for only two years, while bowhead whales survive for two centuries? And could the answer give us hints as to how to extend our own, human life spans? The maximum life span of each species is estimated using the age of its longest-living member, and these vary by orders of … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

WRITER FUEL: Why Do Clouds Float?

clouds - deposit photos

Look up at the sky and clouds may look like “feather canyons” and “ice cream castles in the air,” as they did to Joni Mitchell. But why do they look as if they’re suspended in mid-air, and are they actually floating? And if so, what keeps them aloft? “It’s sort of an illusion,” Alex Lamers, … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: We Could Have a Tractor Beam In Ten Years

tractor beam - deposit photos

In science fiction films, nothing raises tension quite like the good guys’ spaceship getting caught in an invisible tractor beam that allows the baddies to slowly reel them in. But what was once only a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality. Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam, dubbed an electrostatic tractor. This tractor … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Doctors Identify Gene That Causes Insatiable Hunger

hungry child - deposit photos

Two children who experienced intense, insatiable hunger that drove them to overeat have rare, never-before-seen genetic mutations that interfere with leptin, a key hormone that helps tell the body when it is full, a new case report says. After white fat cells make leptin, it plugs into the brainstem and hypothalamus, brain regions that help … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Fusion Power is Critical to Our Survival, The Science Guy Says

Atom molecule in dark interior as science concept. 3d rendering - deposit photos

What would Bill Nye the Science Guy get our home planet for Earth Day? The ultimate gift: fusion energy. “We need electricity,” Nye told Live Science in an exclusive interview on Thursday (April 20). “We need not only what we can get right now with existing technologies — with wind, and solar and geothermal energy … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Stress Really Can Make You Older

elderly woman's wrinkled hands cover her face in close-up, sepia tones - deposit photos

Our “biological age,” which reflects signs of age-related decline in our cells and tissues, doesn’t steadily increase along with our chronological age. Instead, new research suggests that biological aging can accelerate during stressful events and then reverse after those events. In other words, there are measurable biological markers linked to age-related changes in cell function, … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Scientists Invent ‘Shape-Shifting’ Antibiotic to Fight Superbugs

antibiotic - deposit photos

The spread of drug-resistant “superbugs” — including bacteria that have evolved to thwart even the most potent antibiotics — represents an ever-growing threat to public health. Now, scientists have invented a new type of antibiotic that can take down these germs by rapidly rearranging its atoms and thus changing its shape. The researchers described the … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writer Fuel: Short-Term Memory Illusions Can Warm Memories

brain - deposit photos

Human beings can generate false memories of events mere seconds after they have occurred, a new study has found. The phenomenon, which researchers have dubbed “short-term memory illusions,” shows how easily and rapidly humans reimagine experiences to fit our preconceptions, rather than accurately recording what takes place. The researchers published their findings April 5 in … Read more

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Live Science: What’s the Maximum Possible Human Lifespan?

aging - deposit photos

Scientists have long debated the greatest possible age of a person, with previous studies placing the limit at up to 150 years. But in the past 25 years, no one has surpassed the record for the world’s oldest person, held by Jean Louise Calment, who died at age 122 in 1997. “This has led people … Read more