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Meet Rob Navias: Public Affairs Officer and Mission Commentator  

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted in October 2023.  As the International Space Station approaches 25 years of continuous human presence on Nov. 2, 2025, it is a meaningful moment to recognize those who have been there since the beginning—sharing the story of human spaceflight with the world.    If you have ever witnessed the live Continue Reading

Cancer cells steal mitochondria from nerve cells to fuel their spread

A nerve cell (stained green) growing among a cancer cell culture Simon Grelet and Gustavo Ayala Cancer cells steal energy-generating parts from nerve cells to fuel their spread to distant sites, a discovery that could improve treatments against the deadliest tumours. “This is the first time that mitochondrial exchange has been demonstrated from nerves to Continue Reading

Martian dust to dream homes: How microbes can build on the red planet

Inhabiting Mars has long been a futuristic fantasy fueled by science fiction. However, successful landings on our neighboring planet over the past half-century have made this seemingly far-fetched idea increasingly plausible. But don’t start packing just yet. First, we must figure out how to build structures millions of miles from Earth. Sending rockets carrying m***ive Continue Reading

New viruses discovered in bats in China could be the next pandemic threat

Researchers have discovered two new viruses in bats that are closely related to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses — pathogens that can cause severe brain inflammation and respiratory disease in humans. The viruses, as well as other new viruses, bacteria, and parasites identified from bat kidneys, were reported this week in the open-access journal Continue Reading

Mammals didn’t walk upright until late—here’s what fossils reveal

For over a century, scientists have puzzled over a fundamental mystery in our evolutionary history: how did mammals go from sprawling like lizards to striding like cats and dogs? This transition — from a sprawled stance (like a lizard) to an upright (parasagittal) posture — marked a pivotal moment in mammal evolution. While the earliest Continue Reading

Google’s new AI will help researchers understand how our genes work

“We haven’t designed or validated AlphaGenome for personal genome prediction, a known challenge for AI models,” Google said in a statement. Underlying the AI system is the so-called transformer architecture invented at Google that also powers large language models like GPT-4. This one was trained on troves of experimental data produced by public scientific projects. Continue Reading

The brain’s sweet spot: How criticality could unlock learning, memory—and prevent Alzheimer’s

In a new paper with implications for preventing Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders, Keith Hengen, an ***ociate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, suggests a new comprehensive approach to understanding how the brain works and the rules it must follow to reach optimal performance. “There’s a common Continue Reading

Vitamin C flips your skin’s “youth genes,” reversing age-related thinning

The skin acts as the body’s first line of defense against external threats. However, as we age, the epidermis — the outermost layer of skin — gradually becomes thinner and loses its protective strength. About 90% of the cells in this layer are keratinocytes, which originate from deeper layers of the epidermis and migrate upward, Continue Reading