Study in mice shows promise for treating genetic conditions during early stages of development. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University have for the first time used a gene editing technique to successfully cure a genetic condition in a mouse model. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, present a promising new avenue for research into treating genetic conditions during fetal development.

An estimated 8 million children are born each year with severe genetic disorders or birth defects. Genetic conditions can often be detected during pregnancy using amniocentesis, but there are no treatment options to correct these genetic conditions before birth. “Early in embryonic development, there are a lot of stem cells dividing at a rapid pace...

New solid-state silicon device may one day power space missions. Researchers have developed a tiny silicon-based device that can harness what was previously called waste heat and turn it into DC power. Directly converting electrical power to heat is easy. It regularly happens in your toaster, that is, if you make toast regularly. The opposite, converting heat into electrical power, isn’t so easy.

“We have developed a new method for essentially recovering energy from waste heat. Car engines produce a lot of heat and that heat is just waste, right? So imagine if you could convert that engine heat into electrical power for a hybrid car. This is the first step in that direction, but much more work needs to be done,” said Paul Davids, a physicist and the principal investigator for the study...

This artist’s impression shows the temperate planet Ross 128 b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. Credit: courtesy of ESO/M. Kornmesser

Detailed chemical abundances of the Ross 128 help us understand its exoplanet Ross 128 b. Last autumn, the world was excited by the discovery of an exoplanet called Ross 128 b, which is just 11 light years away from Earth. New work from a team led by Diogo Souto of Brazil’s Observatório Nacional and including Carnegie’s Johanna Teske has for the first time determined detailed chemical abundances of the planet’s host star, Ross 128.

Understanding which elements are present in a star in what abundances can help researchers estimate the makeup of the exoplanets that orbit them, which can help predict how similar the planets are to the Earth...