Filed under: Science
Research news and explainers across biology, chemistry, ecology and the physical sciences.
Soil carbon: what the science can promise, and what it can't
Soils hold vast amounts of carbon, but gains are hard to measure and easy to lose. What 4 per 1000, carbon credits and farmers can realistically expect.
Geeks start the week: what synthetic biology's 2007 promises delivered
The first day of SB3.0 in 2007 was a rush of fast technical talks. Nearly nineteen years later, which of those tools and promises came true?
Ocean iron fertilisation revisited: from Planktos to the new marine carbon removal
Iron dumping promised cheap carbon storage and delivered scandals and a treaty fix. Now ocean carbon removal is back, with old governance questions.
Mapping the 'Mexican genome': the questions a 2009 launch skipped
In 2009 Mexico unveiled a 'map of the Mexican genome'. What the study found, what genomic sovereignty covered, and who has benefited since.
Gene drives: the case for caution and the case for trying
How CRISPR gene drives work, where the malaria mosquito work has got to, and why the argument about releasing one is harder than either side admits.
Solar geoengineering without the hype: questions and answers
Stratospheric aerosols and cloud brightening explained, why 2024's experiments were halted, and the fight over who gets to decide.
Nanomaterials in food and packaging: what's there, what's regulated, what nobody knows
From the E171 ban to nanosilver containers: where engineered nanoparticles meet food, how rules differ by country, and which questions remain open.
Rice, milk proteins and sick children in Lima: the Ventria trial revisited
In 2006 a US firm tested human milk proteins made in GM rice on children with diarrhoea in Peru. The trial, the ethics fight, and what came after.
Synthia and the shotgun: what became of the synthetic cell
In 2007 Craig Venter's team sought patents on a minimal synthetic organism. What got built since, what got patented, and what 'synthetic life' means now.
