Gene-Editing Away Herpes

Around two-thirds of humans, according to Smithsonian Magazine, are infected with at least one of the two types of herpes, HSV-1 and HSV-2. It’s estimated that 87% of people with the latter are without clinical diagnosis. The notoriously tenacious herpes virus hides deep in the human body’s central nervous system, but “molecular scissors” might be the way to splice it out. This would occur by …

New Mind-Uploading Start-Up Can Only Preserve “Fresh” Brains

Y Combinator start-up Nectome believes they’re capable of backing up the mind for future digitization. Their process involves preserving every microscopic detail of the brain with a new, advanced embalming process paired with cryonics. It’s the ability to keep the connectome intact, or the web of synapses that connect neurons, that sets them apart from others pursuing similar preservation. As Technology Review points out though, …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Nokia's banana phone, exploding stars, the world's oldest tattoos and more in our look around the web

1. Amateur Astronomer Photographs Exploding Star An Argentinian amateur astronomer was simply testing out his new 16-inch telescope by taking a bunch of short-exposure photographs when he managed to snap an image believed to be one in 10 million—or even one in 100 million. The photo is of an exploding star in a distant galaxy—a visual that professionals have been hoping to capture for a …