The temperature drops and you're more likely to get a cold: Is this correlation or causation?

Since the 1970s, researchers have engineered superbugs. While this research could help us prepare for future outbreaks, the stakes of this work are extremely high: if even one dangerous virus escaped a lab, it could cause a global...

What if we could use the power of DNA to create a sustainable, circular economy? In a talk about breakthrough science, synthetic biologist Jason W. Chin describes his team's work rewriting the genetic blueprint of cells to create a...

A memory isn’t stored in your brain in a neat little package, but is instead spread across a pattern of cells in different regions. What's more, understanding this process could open the door to better treatments for conditions like...

When it comes to fighting COVID-19, scientists are throwing every bit of science we’ve got at it. A creative technique some researchers are looking into involves using gene therapy to fight this virus with… another virus!

Mosquitoes transmit a number of terrible diseases like malaria, West Nile virus, and the Zika virus, but why not the flu?

Usually when we think about animals and disease, we think about illnesses that they transmit to us - like swine flu or Lyme disease. But illness is often a two-way street, and while animals can pass pathogens to us, we can also pass our...

The cold medicine you picked up at the store involves some cool chemistry to treat your symptoms.

Today we know pathogens -- viruses, bacteria, and certain other microbes -- are responsible for many diseases. But linking specific diseases to the microbes that cause them has been surprisingly tricky, and some research practices lead...

Under the sea, untold wonders await in the form of untapped medicinal potential. Chemist Sam Afoullouss dives into the science behind natural remedies, explaining why the ocean's great (and still largely unexplored) biodiversity is ideal...

While it’s probably most famous for its role in gene editing, CRISPR does more than just that: its ability to precisely cut and alter DNA could lead to new antibiotics, faster diagnosis tools, and more. Chapters CREATING ANTIBIOTICS 1:07...

Last week, the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prizes were announced. We take a closer look at the winners of the Physiology and Chemistry Awards, whose breakthroughs change the way we study sleep, and allow us to look at microscopic...

The world has a lot to thank Henrietta Lacks for, and yet many do not know what she has contributed. From helping to create the polio vaccine to the study of radiation, Henrietta and her HeLa cells have changed the world.

While herpes viruses cause harmful or annoying afflictions like chickenpox and cold sores, there’s also evidence it can help your immune system fight unrelated attackers.

Traditional COVID tests take time and specialized personnel, but a new kind of test that uses nanotechnology could expedite the process.

Hank tells us about the team of deadly ninja assassins that is tasked with protecting our bodies from all the bad guys that want to kill us - also known as our immune system.

In 2017, scientists discovered what appeared to be an unkillable virus that does something very un-virus-like... it builds its own nucleus inside its host's cells!

Recent discoveries about the Arc protein have shown that its function and origin may be even more complicated than scientists originally thought.

From insects to infections, and polymers to pacemakers, scientists have discovered some very cool things entirely by accident, thanks to some careful observation and curiosity.

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In 1959, the WHO set out to eradicate smallpox, an ambitious goal that was achieved by 1980. But this goal wouldn't have been possible without coordination on all levels of society. In this episode of Crash Course Outbreak Science, we'll...

For a respiratory disease, COVID-19 sure seems to affect more than just the respiratory system. Scientists think the receptor ACE2 is to blame.

Like a common cold or a cold sore, would it be possible to get a reinfection of COVID-19? Would we be able to build up long-term resistance to it?

Scientists found that the prevailing hypothesis of how the Alzheimer’s disease starts might be wrong, and some viruses could be the culprit.

The silverleaf whitefly – a very prolific pest – is the only insect that we know of with a functional stolen plant gene.