Shrubs curb carbon emissions in China’s largest desert
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 5-Apr-2026 06:15 ET (5-Apr-2026 10:15 GMT/UTC)
Last year a ten-month old baby in the US was the first person in the world to have their rare genetic disease effectively cured through the use of CRISPR gene editing technology. But the roll out of CRISPR across a wide range of genetic conditions has been hampered by its inconsistency, and its potential to cause harm to healthy genes. Now a team of Melbourne scientists have used AI to develop a fast and accurate way to keep CRISPR in line.
Surgeons operate on fetuses in the womb to repair congenital conditions like spina bifida before birth. Current tools only allow for continuous monitoring of the fetus’s heartbeat but not other vital signs. New soft, flexible device fits through an operative port already used for fetoscopic surgery to track heart rate, blood oxygen levels and temperature. In large animal model, the device accurately and precisely tracked vital signs even as the uterus and fetus were moved during surgery. Device could sense fetal distress sooner, enabling earlier interventions to prevent complications.
Cities are expected to track sustainability progress with data that are often incomplete, outdated, or available only at national level. New research led by IIASA in collaboration with UN-Habitat finds that citizen science could address these gaps and support nearly 70% of global sustainability indicators, yet is currently used in only 4% of cases.
When people perceive artificial intelligence as replacing human labor, trust in democracy and political participation decline.