Could the discovery of a tiny RNA molecule explain the origins of life?

One of the greatest mysteries of our planet is how a soup of lifeless chemicals transformed into the first living cell. There are several competing theories about where this happened, from frozen ...
New Scientist

RNA strand that can almost self-replicate may be key to life's origins

Life may have begun when RNA molecules began to replicate themselves, and now we’ve finally found an RNA molecule that is very close to being able to do this ...

Cell division spindles self-organize like active liquid crystals—a theory that holds up

When a cell divides, it performs a feat of microscopic choreography—duplicating its DNA and depositing it into two new cells.
Business Insider

One chart helps explain why Elon Musk is axing Tesla's Model S and X

Elon Musk said Tesla's Model X and Model S — the company's highest-priced cars — are getting the ax. While Tesla doesn't specify how many were sold, earnings show demand has been falling for years.
The Verge

Google’s AI helped me make bad Nintendo knockoffs

It’s what I had the most fun using Google’s Project Genie for, at least right now. It’s what I had the most fun using Google’s Project Genie for, at least right now. is a senior reporter covering ...
Gizmodo

DeepMind’s New AI Can Read a Million DNA Letters at Once—and Actually Understand Them

Artificial intelligence has gotten a bad reputation lately, and often for good reason. But a team of scientists at Google’s DeepMind now claims to have found a revolutionary use case for AI: helping ...
STAT

DeepMind releases AlphaGenome source code, aiming to improve its AI predictions of gene regulation

Megan Molteni reports on discoveries from the frontiers of genomic medicine, neuroscience, and reproductive tech. She joined STAT in 2021 after covering health and science at WIRED. You can reach ...
Nature

Cancer might protect against Alzheimer’s — this protein helps explain why

For decades, researchers have noted that cancer and Alzheimer’s disease are rarely found in the same person, fuelling speculation that one condition might offer some degree of protection from the ...
WMUR

Investigators seek public's help to identify girl whose skull was found at Seabrook business in 1994

AND THEY SAY THEY NEED A LITTLE HELP FROM THE PUBLIC BECAUSE WE HAVE VERY LITTLE INFORMATION TO GO ON. THE STATE HAS TEAMED UP WITH THE DNA DOE PROJECT IN HOPES OF GIVING THIS LITTLE GIRL HER IDENTITY ...