Dave Roos

Read the latest articles by Dave Roos at Seeker

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Health

Take a closer look at the medical news and discoveries impacting our health and wellbeing.

Health News, Headlines and Videos

We are poised on the edge of the age of genomics.

These Companies Want to Secure Genetic Data on the Blockchain

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Earth & Conservation

There are more than 7,000 languages on Earth, yet half of the world’s 7.6 billion people speak just 24 of them and 95 percent speak just 400 of them.

Can We Stop a ‘Mass Extinction’ of Human Languages?

Last June, Seeker posted a story about a startling paper published in the journal Nature Methods that identified 1,600 accidental mutations in the genomes of mice treated with the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.

CRISPR’s ‘Off-Target Effects’ May Just Be Genetic Drift

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On April 19, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25, a chemical compound that he first synthesized back in 1938 from the parasitic fungus ergot.

75 Years After First LSD Trip, Psychedelic Science Is Making a Comeback

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Behavior

Bored and anxious humans have long ‘cracked’ their knuckles.

Here’s the Actual Physics of Why Knuckles ‘Crack’

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Biotech

Brewing Craft Beer With CRISPR, Not Hops

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The last Yellowstone supereruption occurred roughly 640,000 years ago, creating the massive, 40-mile wide Yellowstone caldera and producing an umbrella-shaped ash cloud that blanketed areas as far away as modern-day New York with several millimeters of ash.

A Deep-Mantle Plume Fuels the Yellowstone Supervolcano

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Energy

Solar energy holds great promise as a renewable source of electricity, but solar panels have one Achilles heel — clouds.

Harvesting Energy From Solar Panels — Rain or Shine

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Medicine

Hearing loss is the most widespread sensory disorder in the world, affecting an estimated 360 million people on the planet, yet there isn’t a single FDA-approved drug to treat or prevent it.

A Promising Drug Could Lead to a Preventative Cure for Hearing Loss

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Space & Innovation

An estimated 39 million people worldwide are blind, and another 245 million suffer from moderately or extremely impaired vision.

Artificial Photoreceptors Restore Sight in Blind Mice

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More than 115,000 people in the United States are on waiting lists for an organ transplant, and 20 Americans die each day, on average, from a shortage of donated organs.

Milestone Achieved in Quest to Grow Human Organs Inside of Animals

Bob Demers/University of Arizona

You’ve probably seen the statistics: African-Americans experience significantly higher risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, stroke, and certain cancers compared to white and Hispanic Americans.

Dave’s Recent Articles

These Companies Want to Secure Genetic Data on the Blockchain

The much-hyped technology behind bitcoin could play a key role in finally making precision medicine a reality.

Can We Stop a ‘Mass Extinction’ of Human Languages?

Conservationists believe the answer might lie in treating languages as if they are endangered species.

CRISPR’s ‘Off-Target Effects’ May Just Be Genetic Drift

A leading journal retracted a 2017 paper that implicated CRISPR-Cas9 in causing unintended genetic mutations.

75 Years After First LSD Trip, Psychedelic Science Is Making a Comeback

Sidelined for decades by the War on Drugs, LSD and other psychedelics are regaining their original reputation as effective therapies for depression and addiction.

Here’s the Actual Physics of Why Knuckles ‘Crack’

Mathematical models show that the trademark popping sound comes from the collapse of tiny cavitation bubbles in the knuckle joint.

Brewing Craft Beer With CRISPR, Not Hops

By eliminating hops, brewers can make a more sustainable product. But are consumers ready for bioengineered beer?

A Deep-Mantle Plume Fuels the Yellowstone Supervolcano

New images prove that the Yellowstone hotspot is powered by superheated magma rising up from Earth’s core.

Harvesting Energy From Solar Panels — Rain or Shine

A new type of hybrid solar cell can charge even on drizzly days, collecting spare electrons from falling raindrops.

A Promising Drug Could Lead to a Preventative Cure for Hearing Loss

Injections of a single compound preserved hearing in mice and rats exposed to chemotherapy and noise.

Artificial Photoreceptors Restore Sight in Blind Mice

Scientists replaced faulty rods and cones in blind mice with artificial photocells and restored nearly full-color vision.

Milestone Achieved in Quest to Grow Human Organs Inside of Animals

In the ethically charged research field of creating human-animal chimeras, scientists successfully reached a 1-to10,000 ratio of human to sheep cells in an embryo.

Untangling Race and Health Risks Through Genetics

Geneticist Rick Kittles probes African-American genetic ancestry for data that could help resolve health disparities in communities of color.