All posts tagged: reveal

Embryos made without sperm or eggs reveal why many pregnancies fail

Embryos made without sperm or eggs reveal why many pregnancies fail

Published by skeptic

Embryo models closely resemble early human embryos SCIEPRO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy Inside a lab in Vienna, cells are dividing to form a hollow sphere. Although the fragile ball has all the characteristics of an early human embryo, it isn’t quite what it seems. It didn’t, in fact, begin with an egg meeting a sperm. Instead, it was created entirely in the lab. The very first days of pregnancy have long been an enigma. Scientists are unable to peer inside the uterus during pregnancy, meaning we know little about why so many fail. This is now beginning to change, thanks to embryo models created from stem cells, which are lifting the lid on one of the great mysteries of human biology. In the five years since early human embryo models known as blastoids were first created in several labs – including the one in Vienna – researchers have dramatically advanced our understanding of the early days of life. This is already leading to improvements for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and treatments for serious conditions that occur during …

SpaceX-Tesla Merger Speculation Grows As Decade Of Cross-Company Deals Reveal Deeper Integration

SpaceX-Tesla Merger Speculation Grows As Decade Of Cross-Company Deals Reveal Deeper Integration

Published by Jenni Sidey

Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives has pointed out for months the potential for a SpaceX-Tesla merger, discussing the possibility with Bloomberg in February and, more recently, on a podcast where he said the probability is 80% by 2027. Polymarket odds of a merger by the end of the year stand at 32%. Now, CNBC has joined the growing speculation that Musk may eventually merge Tesla and SpaceX into one mega-company. The report said: The two companies already have a laundry list of shared resources, and Musk has discussed with colleagues the possibility of folding the companies together, according to people familiar with the talks who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic. A current Tesla employee told CNBC that many workers at the electric vehicle company have long expected such a transaction to eventually take place and that the topic is openly discussed internally. Another person close to the company said that shared challenges tied to power and compute constraints have led to regular collaborations. Both companies already overlap across AI, …

How a radical new view of life could reveal its origin – and aliens

How a radical new view of life could reveal its origin – and aliens

Published by skeptic

Wherever you are reading this, look around you. Every living thing you can see – other people, pets, birds flying past, trees, flowers, mushrooms, fish – is here because of unions between different species. Classic cases are lichens (typically formed of algae and fungi) or corals (made of algae and animal components), but these examples underplay just how far and deep symbiosis goes. In my new book Togetherness, I make the case that symbiosis – which means “living together” – has been neglected in our explanation of biology and ecology. It’s not just that I think it’s a shame that its significance has been unappreciated; it’s that recognising symbiosis is vital to help us understand who we are and how we came to be. Complex life – all those things you see around you – exists only because of a deep form of cellular symbiosis, and all plants rely on symbiosis to grow and to produce all the food we eat. But this isn’t widely recognised. Since before Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, and even …

GTA 6 boss doesn’t reveal price – but does make one exciting promise

GTA 6 boss doesn’t reveal price – but does make one exciting promise

Published by Daniella Wilson

Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, has made one exciting promise in a new interview about GTA 6. He didn’t reveal the price, though, despite everyone hoping that he would. This news comes as fans get increasingly twitchy in the pursuit of new information on Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6. Over the past week and a bit, prognosticators have become utterly convinced that GTA-6 pre-orders are imminent, but there’s still no sign of that actually happening in reality. Other rumours circulating around GTA 6 include the theory that user-generated content production will be a big deal in the game, with the game having the potential to “produce millionaires” in real-life. But, once again, that hasn’t been officially confirmed at the time of writing. So, what has Strauss Zelnick said in this new interview with Variety? Well, the exciting promise we referred to at the top is that he finally gave us a rough timeline on when to expect new, official information about the game to come out. Zelnick told Variety to expect marketing for …

All my children might die before they’re 35, says mum after missed test results reveal rare genetic condition

All my children might die before they’re 35, says mum after missed test results reveal rare genetic condition

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore A mother said her 14-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare progressive condition which means he could die before 35, years after missed genetic results, and now fears her other three children may face the same fate. Sarah Bingham, 39, from Weston-super-Mare, said her son Caleb nearly died at eight months old after having blood poisoning and bacterial meningitis. After waking from a month-long coma, he “completely regressed” and acted like a newborn. He remained non-verbal until age five, struggling with walking and socialising, and was diagnosed with autism at age 10 – as part of the diagnosis process, he had a genetic test, but Sarah said she never heard back about the results so assumed everything was fine. It was not until 2025, when Sarah requested all of her son’s medical records, that it was revealed the genetic test showed …

Ask Ethan: What do surveys of physicists actually reveal?

Ask Ethan: What do surveys of physicists actually reveal?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Out there in the Universe, there’s so much that we’ve learned and discovered. We know all about the normal matter present in the Universe: the full suite of Standard Model particles and how they interact all throughout cosmic history. We know about the laws that govern reality extremely well, including the fundamental forces and how they behave under a wide variety of cosmic and quantum conditions. We’ve reconstructed most of the history of the Universe in extraordinary detail, and from a variety of different approaches — observationally, theoretically, and experimentally — we’re gathering more and more evidence every day to peel back the curtains that obscure what’s beyond the currently understood frontiers governing reality. But what lies beyond what we’re already certain about? If we don’t already know, what do the greatest minds who ponder these problems think, and can their intuitions, educated guesses, or even hunches help drive the field forward? In one of the largest surveys of physicists about fundamental physics ever conducted, solicited by Physics magazine in 2025 and published online in …

Brain scans reveal how a teenager’s reaction to loss connects impulsivity and suicidal thoughts

Brain scans reveal how a teenager’s reaction to loss connects impulsivity and suicidal thoughts

Published by José Betancourt

A neuroimaging study of adolescents found that the association between impulsivity and future suicidal thoughts depends on how the right anterior insula, a region of the brain involved in processing emotions, reacts to loss. In adolescents whose anterior insula reacted with strong activation to a small monetary loss, high impulsivity was associated with elevated suicidal thoughts a year later. In contrast, in adolescents whose anterior insula did not react strongly to loss, higher impulsivity was associated with lower levels of suicidal thoughts. The paper was published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 (or 800-273-8255) or visit the NSPL site. Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death among U.S. youth. Despite ongoing prevention efforts, statistics show that youth suicide rates have increased in recent years. Usually, suicidal behavior is preceded by periods during which a person thinks about death and suicide, a concept known as suicidal ideation. These thoughts can range from general …

Michelin adds 11 L.A.-area restaurants, announces the date of its 2026 Guide reveal

Michelin adds 11 L.A.-area restaurants, announces the date of its 2026 Guide reveal

Published by Sam Flores

Michelin, the global dining guide famous for its star ratings and prestige, just named a slew of new restaurants that will appear in its 2026 California Guide. The full guide will be revealed at a ceremony in San Diego on June 24. Of today’s 21 new additions, 11 are in the Los Angeles area and include “a highly tuned omakase” in Beverly Hills, a stalwart taqueria famed for its fresh flour tortillas, and a new Cali-French bistro with an affordable tasting menu. The guide also recognized an L.A. Times-recommended restaurant in Palm Springs, newcomers in La Jolla and Santa Barbara, and multiple restaurants in the Bay Area. The restaurants appear in the guide due to being new and notable; a good value for the price, also known as a Bib Gourmand pick; or because they earned stars. Stars, awarded on a scale of one to three, are the most lauded of the guide’s accolades and some of the most sought-after in the restaurant industry. Green stars, which recognize environmentally friendly practices, are also awarded. Michelin’s …

Under Suspicion: Kate McCann review – Drama doesn’t reveal bigger picture

Under Suspicion: Kate McCann review – Drama doesn’t reveal bigger picture

Published by Daniella Wilson

A star rating of 2 out of 5. So public was the police condemnation of Kate and Gerry McCann in the wake of their daughter Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, that suspicion has seemed to cling to them ever since, fuelling years of conjecture. Media reporting, too, has at times slid into sensationalism. This latest true-crime drama from 5 – whose previous reconstructions have included the Soham murders and the scandal surrounding Huw Edwards – returns to the moment that narrative first took hold: when Kate (played by Laura Bayston) was formally declared an “arguida”, or suspect. Rather than rewinding to the events leading up to the discovery of Madeleine’s empty bed on 3 May, we first encounter Kate four months into the investigation, hollowed out by grief and relentless scrutiny, as she’s summoned for another meeting with Portuguese detectives. Progress has stalled, leads are sketchy and no arrests have been made. Yet it quickly becomes clear that Inspectors Joao Carlos (Hugo Nicolau) and Ricardo Paiva (Miguel Freire) …