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The Download: synthetic sex cells, and brain stimulation

The way we make babies could be about to change. Maybe.  An embryo forms when sperm meets egg. But what if we could start with other cells—if a blood sample or skin... Read more »

Meet the designer behind gender-neutral emoji

Emoji tended to codify gender with traditional signs of masculinity (beard, mustache, short hair) and femininity (painted nails, longer hair, skirts). Hunt found this limiting, even disturbing: Why was a nurse a... Read more »

Inside the race to make human sex cells in the lab

But there are other hurdles—some so challenging that many scientists have given up. For one thing, nudging the stem cells in the right direction requires, it seems, a unique touch and expertise.... Read more »

Exposing the messy, technologized, and undervalued nature of reproductive labor

The milk in this exhibit is not real. After much experimenting, Liu ended up filling the pump with “magician’s milk,” a proprietary formula, purchased from a magic shop, that requires no refrigeration... Read more »

Brain stimulation can improve the memory of older people

By the end of the four days, those who’d had their brains stimulated improved their performance by around 50 to 65% and remembered around four to six extra words from the list... Read more »

The Download: the impact of video games, and healthy brains

The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.  1 Google flagged a father’s medical photos of his son as abuseWhen Big Tech’s abuse-detection tools get... Read more »

How do strong muscles keep your brain healthy?

Myokines are released into the bloodstream when your muscles contract, create new cells, or perform other metabolic activities. When they arrive at the brain, they regulate physiological and metabolic responses there, too.... Read more »

Software can do better than ‘male,’ ‘female,’ and ‘other’

Why something as dehumanizing as “other”? Even a choice of the three most popular—“he,” “she,” and “they”—would be reasonable. From a coding perspective, it would be quite simple to update the dropdown... Read more »

We may never fully know how video games affect our well-being

The moral panic around video games has stuck in a way that previous entertainment-fueled panics such as those around rock music and TV haven’t. But the evidence isn’t there.  Media reports that... Read more »

The Download: an “unhackable” phone, and Ring’s TV show

The fight for “Instagram face” Through beauty filters, platforms like Instagram are helping users achieve increasingly narrowing beauty standards—though only in the digital world—at a stunningly rapid pace. There is evidence that... Read more »