A DNA-powered PC may not be on the horizon, but DNA can still compute even if it can’t build a computer.
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Articles on Biotechnology
Displaying 61 - 80 of 86 articles
Medical research can be complex and difficult to understand, but cinematic representations of mad scientists who speak gobbledygook add to the confusion. An annual event separates fact from fiction.
Plants on the International Space Station must figure out how to grow in a completely novel environment. Their adaptability hints at how they’ll react to changes here on Earth – or in future space outposts.
By forgetting that medicine postpones death rather than saving lives, we persuade ourselves it might somehow keep extending our life and come to view death as a failure of medicine.
MPs call for a revamp of GM regulations, after finding “no greater inherent risk” with GM crops compared to conventional ones.
Throughout history, whenever new technologies have emerged that change our means of production and ability to communicate they have tended to transform society. The rapid technological development of the…
Australian innovation has stagnated in the past 50 years, and could be reinvigorated by focusing on key areas, according to Donald Hector, President of the Royal Society of New South Wales in an interview…
Peter Doherty: Thinking in terms of Australia’s future, how important is it for us to expand activity in the innovation/high technology sector? Donald Hector: It’s critically important. If you look at…
A genetic modification that creates male-only populations could give us a new weapon against invasive fish such as carp that plague our waterways. “Daughterless technology”, which works by removing females…
Synthetic biology is an emerging discipline, but paradoxically it is not particularly new. Since the mid-1970s we have been developing ways of instructing pieces of biology to perform useful tasks in an…
Last October, scientists in California sequenced the DNA for the “type H” botulinum toxin. One gram of this toxin would be sufficient to kill half a billion people, making it the deadliest substance yet…
Algae can produce up to 700% more compounds when tricked to stay awake, according to new research conducted by Vanderbilt…
The launch of the lab-bred “meat” in London was a masterly act of timing, theatre, and media management. But now that rabbit is out of the hat, there are questions that need to be asked, and answers that…
Researchers have developed a simpler and faster way of producing designer bacteria used in biotechnology processes. It is…
In the past month, we have seen two major announcements of huge projects to map the brain – the European Human Brain Project (HBP) and the Obama Brain Activity Map (BAM). What you may not have noticed…
What’s not to love about bananas? Besides being a wildly popular dessert fruit, they are the staple food of millions of people in developing countries. The current edition of Nature carries a paper that…
A new class of biosensor has been developed to detect exceptionally small traces of contaminants in liquids in just 40 minutes…
The growth of augmented reality (AR) will almost certainly change the way we visually experience the everyday world. And, as discussed previously on The Conversation, it’s likely to be Google’s Project…
With promises of improved medical treatments, greener energy and even artificial life, the field of synthetic biology has captured the public imagination and attracted significant government and commercial…
Innovations deriving from genetics research, stem cell research, nanoscience and neuroscience will soon revolutionise medicine. With the potential for biotechnologies to alter natural processes and redefine…
Top contributors
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Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow, The University of Western Australia
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Assistant Professor of Philosophy, UMass Lowell
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President, Royal Society of New South Wales
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Professor of Microbiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso
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Doctoral Student in Biochemistry, University of Washington
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Laureate Professor, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University
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Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, Monash University
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Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Sydney
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Senior lecturer, University of Twente
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Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law, Queensland University of Technology
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Professor of Ocean Leadership, University of Tromsø
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Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Canterbury
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Assistant Professor, Bond University
