U.K. scientists discover method to reduce steelmaking’s CO2 emissions by 90%
The iron and steel industry is a major cause of greenhouse gasses, accounting for 9% of global emissions.
Science & academia
This archive covers milestones and breakthroughs from the scientific and academic world — researchers, universities, and institutions whose work advances human knowledge. Stories here highlight discoveries, studies, and scholarly efforts that point toward a better future.
Moderna’s mRNA RSV vaccine delivers impressive Phase 3 trial results
For decades researchers have been trying to develop a vaccine for the deadly respiratory disease. It looks like 2023 will be the landmark year where not only one, but possibly three different vaccines are approved.
World’s first university dedicated entirely to climate change opens in Wales
Black Mountains College in Wales is currently recruiting students for its BA in Sustainable Futures due to launch in September 2023.
Top British universities offer Afghan women free courses until Taliban lift learning ban
Afghan girls and women with internet access will be able to study more than 1,200 courses from 20 top British institutions at no cost to themselves.
In a world first, Japenese scientists use artificial DNA to kill cancer cells
Artificial DNA that turns cancer’s own biology against itself marks a genuine conceptual leap in oncology. Japanese researchers at the University of Tokyo engineered synthetic molecules that lie dormant until they detect a chemical cancer cells overproduce — then restructure themselves into a signal the immune system reads as a threat, destroying the tumor from within. Early tests spanned multiple cancer types, suggesting broad potential. This kind of precision — working with the body’s existing defenses rather than overwhelming them — is exactly the direction cancer medicine has been reaching toward, and this research moves that goal meaningfully closer.
University of Houston researchers create “game-changer” vaccine for deadly street drug
In a study published in Pharmaceutics, scientists tested their vaccine on 60 rats. The immunized animals could produce antibodies that stop the deadly drug’s effects.
Claudine Gay to be Harvard’s 1st Black president
Gay will be the only Black president currently in the Ivy League and the second Black woman ever, following Ruth Simmons, who led Brown University from 2001 to 2012.
New blood cancer therapy successful in three-quarters of trial patients
The Phase 1/2 trial data from Janssen Research & Development covered hundreds of myeloma patients. Based on preliminary trial data, the FDA has granted it “Breakthrough Therapy” designation.
American fusion scientists claim net energy gain, in potentially huge renewables breakthrough
Fusion energy just cleared a barrier scientists have been chasing since the 1950s — producing more energy from a reaction than was needed to trigger it. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved this by blasting tiny hydrogen fuel capsules with lasers until they released roughly 20 percent more energy than the lasers delivered. The result doesn’t mean fusion power plants are imminent; enormous engineering challenges remain between this laboratory milestone and a working grid. But it does confirm that fusion’s central promise is physically real — and that gives scientists, investors, and policymakers something genuinely new to build on.
Experimental Naloxone vending machine in Cincinnati has reversed nearly 1,000 overdoses in two years
The machine dispensed more than 3,000 doses of naloxone and 10,000 drug test strips in the first year after it was installed in February 2021.