Tag: science

Third Chinese scientist charged with smuggling illegal biological pathogen into US from Wuhan

A third Chinese scientist has been charged with smuggling biological materials into the United States after a University of Michigan student and her boyfriend were caught last week.

Chengxuan Han was arrested on Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan airport and charged with smuggling goods into the US.

Police allege Han sent four packages which ‘contained biological material related to round worms’ from China to the US.

The packages were sent between September 2024 and March 2025 and addressed to people linked to the laboratory at the University of Michigan. 

Han initially denied sending the packages at all, according to court documents. She later insisted they contained plastic cups, rather than petri dishes. 

According to the documents, she ultimately admitted sending the samples, which she had collected during her research as a Ph.D. student in Wuhan, China.

The charges come less than a week after University of Michigan postdoctoral fellow Yunqing Jian, 33, was charged alongside Zunyong Liu, 34, for attempting to smuggle a weapon of ‘agroterrorism’ into the United States in a sinister plot allegedly tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

Liu arrived in the United States from China in July 2024 carrying four small baggies of Fusarium graminearum – a product responsible for causing billions of dollars worth of damage to livestock, wheat, barley, maize and rice globally each year.

All three of the accused have links to the same university laboratory.

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Japan Has Created the First Artificial Womb in the World

Researchers in Japan are developing artificial womb technology, a groundbreaking innovation that could change how we care for premature infants and even reshape the future of childbirth.

This isn’t science fiction—it’s a reality scientists are working toward, and Japan is leading the way.

Let’s explore what this technology is, how it works, and what it means for the world.

What Is Artificial Womb Technology?

An artificial womb is a device designed to mimic the environment of a natural womb. It provides a safe, controlled space for a fetus to grow outside the mother’s body.

The system uses a fluid-filled chamber that acts like amniotic fluid, along with machines to supply oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord.

In Japan, scientists have tested this technology on animals like goats and sharks, successfully keeping embryos alive for weeks.

For example, researchers at Juntendo University sustained goat fetuses for up to three weeks in a plastic tank filled with artificial amniotic fluid.

This is a big step toward using the technology for human babies, especially those born extremely premature.

The goal is to help babies born before 37 weeks, who often face serious health risks.

According to the World Health Organization, 15 million babies are born prematurely each year, and 1 million die due to complications.

Artificial wombs could offer a lifeline by allowing these infants to continue developing in a womb-like environment, improving their chances of survival and healthy growth.

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Nearly Everything That We’ve Been Told about Genes and Autism Is Wrong

The University of Sydney caps doctoral theses at 80,000 words (excluding references). The theory is that external reviewers don’t want to read more than that (true!). One can apply to the Dean to increase the word limit to 100,000, which is what I did. But my doctoral thesis, as initially written, was closer to 140,000 words. So I had to cut three chapters that I really liked — the political economy of theories of genetic causation, how evidence-based medicine was captured by Big Pharma, and the history of the regulation of mercury.

I believe that some of the information in those excised chapters would be useful to policymakers in Washington, D.C. trying to figure out how to deal with the epidemics of chronic disease in children. So today I am sharing my original (slightly updated), never-before-seen, chapter 6, which challenges the entire paradigm of genetic determinism in disease causation. 

I. Introduction

In the first chapter, I showed that the rise in autism prevalence is primarily a story of environmental triggers (with some smaller percentage due to diagnostic expansion and genetics). The story of how genetic theories became the dominant narrative in the autism debate thus needs to be explained. The hegemony of genetic theories of disease causation comes at a tremendous cost to society because they crowd out more promising alternatives. This problem is particularly acute in connection with autism, where genetic research swallows up the vast majority of research funding — and has for more than twenty years. So, one of the keys to effectively addressing the autism epidemic will be to demonstrate the flaws in the genetic approach to disease causation and replace it with a more comprehensive ontology that has better explanatory power.

To put this debate in context, I want to recap the genetic argument in connection with autism as I have presented it thus far. In the 1990s, it was routine for scientists, doctors, and policymakers to assure worried parents that autism was genetic. To the extent that anyone ventured a guess, the explanation was that autism was 90% genetic, 10% environmental. Then the state of California commissioned 16 of the top geneticists in the country (Hallmayer et al. 2011) to study birth records of all twins born in the state between 1987 and 2004. Hallmayer et al. (2011) concluded that at most, genetics explains 38% of the autism epidemic, and they pointed out twice that this was likely an overestimate. Blaxill (2011) argues that the eventual consensus will be 90% environmental, 10% genetic. And in chapter 5, I showed a model from Ioannidis, (2005b, p. 700) that suggests that only 1/10th of 1% of “discovery oriented exploratory research studies” (which include nutrition and genetic studies with massive numbers of competing variables) are replicable.

And yet, a disproportionate share of federal research money in connection with autism is going to study genetic theories of disease causation. In 2013, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee spent $308 million on autism research across all federal agencies and private funders participating in research (IACC, 2013a). This is a shockingly low amount to spend on research given estimates that autism is currently costing the US $268 billion a year (Leigh and Du, 2015).

When one drills down into how the IACC spent the $308 million, it is largely focused on genetic research (especially if one examines the funding in the funding category “What Caused This To Happen And Can This Be Prevented?”) (IACC, 2013b). This is in spite of the fact that several groups of leading doctors and scientists including Gilbert and Miller (2009), Landrigan, Lambertini, and Birnbaum (2012), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2013), and Bennett et al. (2016) have all concluded that autism and other neurodevelopment disorders are likely caused by environmental triggers.

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MIT’s Chilling Experiment That Could Prove Gravity Is Quantum

MIT researchers have found a bold new way to approach one of science’s biggest mysteries: is gravity truly a quantum force?

By chilling a tiny mirror to near absolute zero using lasers — a method traditionally used in atomic physics — they’ve opened a new experimental window into the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity. This fusion of cutting-edge cooling and classical tools might finally let scientists observe whether gravity behaves like other quantum forces, a question that has puzzled physicists for decades.

The Gravity Puzzle: Is It Quantum?

One of the most profound open questions in modern physics is: “Is gravity quantum?”

While the other fundamental forces—electromagnetic, weak nuclear, and strong nuclear—have been successfully described by quantum theory, gravity still stands apart. So far, scientists haven’t been able to create a consistent quantum theory of gravity, leaving a major gap in our understanding of the universe.

“Theoretical physicists have proposed many possible scenarios, from gravity being inherently classical to fully quantum, but the debate remains unresolved because we’ve never had a clear way to test gravity’s quantum nature in the lab,” says Dongchel Shin, a PhD candidate in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE). “The key to answering this lies in preparing mechanical systems that are massive enough to feel gravity, yet quiet enough — quantum enough — to reveal how gravity interacts with them.”

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Japanese Scientists Develop Artificial Blood Compatible With All Blood Types

A critical component of healthcare, blood transfusions play a vital role in saving lives around the globe every day. Maintaining an adequate blood supply, though, is no easy task, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The demand for O–negative blood — the universal donor type — often exceeds supply and donations have a limited shelf life. Looking to address the issue are a group of Japanese scientists led by Hiromi Sakai at Nara Medical University. They’ve developed a new type of artificial blood that can be used in patients of any blood type.  

The artificial blood is created by extracting hemoglobin — a protein containing iron that facilitates the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells — from expired donor blood. It is then encased in a protective shell to create stable, virus-free artificial red blood cells. As these artificial cells have no blood type, there is no need for compatibility testing. The synthetic blood can reportedly be stored for up to two years at room temperature and five years under refrigeration. That is a significant improvement over donated red blood cells, which can only be stored under refrigeration for a maximum of 42 days.  

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PETA thanks Trump for ending Navy experiments on cats and dogs, calls for broader ban

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has thanked the Trump administration for banning Navy-funded experiments on dogs and cats.

On Thursday, PETA wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan, thanking the administration for the new ban and requesting a broader ban on all animal testing in all military branches.

Phelan announced on Tuesday that all Department of the Navy testing on cats and dogs would be banned.

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An Attempt To Reset Science

An executive order on science slipped through last week with almost no comment from the media. Its central concern is to set science on a better path after so many years of egregious abuses in which the core principles of science have been set aside in favor of political messaging.

The title is “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” It is an ambitious attempt to reframe what science is and does, not to politicize it but exactly the opposite. Only better science with the highest standards, the order says, is capable of restoring trust.

You have surely heard that the Trump administration is waging war on science. Read this order: the opposite is true.

“Over the last 5 years, confidence that scientists act in the best interests of the public has fallen significantly. A majority of researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics believe science is facing a reproducibility crisis. The falsification of data by leading researchers has led to high-profile retractions of federally funded research.”

To solve the problem, the order seeks to “restore the American people’s faith in the scientific enterprise and institutions that create and apply scientific knowledge in service of the public good. Reproducibility, rigor, and unbiased peer review must be maintained. This order restores the scientific integrity policies of my first Administration and ensures that agencies practice data transparency, acknowledge relevant scientific uncertainties, are transparent about the assumptions and likelihood of scenarios used, approach scientific findings objectively, and communicate scientific data accurately.”

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Physicists confirm the incredible existence of “time mirrors”

For decades, theoretical physicists tossed around the idea that time reflection, also known as “time mirrors,” might one day be demonstrated in a real-world experiment.

This idea seemed too big and wild, yet it kept popping up in serious discussions of quantum mechanics where equations hinted at surprising behavior.

A team led by Hady Moussa from the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) in New York City has now confirmed that these mysterious events actually exist.

They pulled off a successful test by changing the properties of a device in a quick, uniform way so that signals reversed direction in time.

Understanding time mirrors

This sort of time flip has been described as looking into a mirror and spotting your back instead of your face. It sounds like science fiction, but it has a basis in real physics.

Researchers had predicted for more than 50 years that sudden shifts in a wave’s environment could trigger such reversals.

Time reflections differ from everyday mirror views in one crucial way. Instead of light or sound bouncing back in space, the wave is forced to reverse its flow in time.

That shift causes the frequency of the wave to change, sparking a chain reaction of interesting phenomena in the system.

In normal reflections, you see an immediate image or hear an echo. A time reflection, on the other hand, makes part of the signal run backward.

There is no need for any speculation about time travel, though, since these effects involve a swift flip in the medium’s physical traits.

Time mirrors and metamaterials

To achieve this, the group used an engineered metamaterial designed to control electromagnetic wave behavior in unusual ways. Metamaterials allow scientists to manipulate waves far beyond ordinary mirrors or lenses.

By carefully adjusting electronic components on a strip of metal, they introduced a sudden jump that reversed the direction of incoming signals. They filled the strip with electronic switches hooked to capacitor banks.

That arrangement supplied the necessary burst of energy to force the wave to flip direction in time, an effect that used to be considered nearly impossible with accessible power.

The outcome was a time-reversed copy of the original wave, appearing just as predicted but never before seen with clarity.

Adjusting the system’s impedance at the right instant was key. Impedance is a measure of how much a structure resists electric current, and doubling it turned out to be the trick for flipping the wave in time.

By pulling this off in a lab setting, they proved that the energy hurdle can be overcome when conditions are precisely controlled.

Past attempts had failed because uniform shifts across the entire device were tough to generate, but the new approach surmounted that barrier.

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China’s Groundbreaking Diabetes Breakthrough—And the Global Backlash

In a revelation that could transform global healthcare, Chinese scientists have reportedly developed a stem cell therapy that reverses both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. While this scientific leap offers new hope for over 500 million people worldwide living with the chronic disease, it also threatens to shake up the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry that thrives on treating—not curing—diabetes.

At the core of this innovation is a technique that uses a patient’s own fat cells to generate insulin-producing islet cells. These engineered cells are then transplanted into the body, where they naturally regulate blood sugar levels. Since the cells are autologous (derived from the same person), there’s no risk of immune rejection, and patients don’t require immunosuppressants.

Initial trials have produced jaw-dropping results:

  • A 25-year-old woman with Type 1 diabetes went off insulin completely within 75 days.
  • A 59-year-old man with Type 2 diabetes was insulin-free in just 11 weeks. One year later, he remains off all medication.

This therapy takes advantage of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, a method of reprogramming adult cells to behave like embryonic stem cells. Scientists then coax these cells into becoming islet cells, which the pancreas uses to produce insulin.

The process essentially rebuilds a diabetic pancreas from the inside out—without the need for donor organs, immune-suppressing drugs, or lifelong insulin therapy.

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MIT is transforming plants into bright, eco-friendly city lights

Turning ordinary houseplants into sustainable, glowing lamps may soon become a reality, thanks to groundbreaking research by scientists at MIT. By embedding specialized nanoparticles into plant leaves, researchers have successfully transformed common plants into rechargeable, plant-based lights, significantly advancing the field of sustainable lighting technology.

A Bright Idea: Plants as Sustainable Lights

Every day, millions of electronic devices, built from plastic and circuit boards, become waste. Scientists have searched for innovative ways to create sustainable alternatives. Recently, researchers have turned to living plants for solutions. Unlike traditional plastic-based devices, plants naturally break down, avoiding long-term environmental harm.

Michael Strano, a chemical engineering professor at MIT, leads a team aiming to make plants function as light-emitting devices. “We wanted to create a light-emitting plant with particles that will absorb light, store some of it, and emit it gradually,” says Strano. This innovative concept could revolutionize how spaces are illuminated, moving away from traditional electrical systems.

How It Works: The Science of Plant Glow

The secret lies within a plant’s leaf structure. Leaves have specialized layers filled with tiny pores called stomata, which control the flow of air and water. Just beneath the leaf surface is a spongy mesophyll layer, rich with space to store nanoparticles.

MIT scientists infused leaves with microscopic particles of strontium aluminate, a phosphorescent compound often used in glow-in-the-dark paints. These nanoparticles, only about 650 nanometers wide, were coated in silica to protect the plants from damage. Infused through stomata pores, these particles settle evenly across the mesophyll layer, forming a thin film.

When illuminated briefly—just ten seconds—with blue LED lights, these nanoparticles absorb and store energy. Once charged, the plants emit a soft, visible glow lasting for nearly an hour. After the first few vibrant minutes, the glow gently fades but can be quickly recharged repeatedly over weeks, offering a sustainable lighting alternative.

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