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What Can Minecraft Offer in Non-STEM Education? Plenty, According to a New Study

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Microsoft had big plans when it purchased Minecraft, the immensely popular open-world ‘sandbox’ game, back in 2014 for US$2.5 billion. Among them was to invest heavily in an educational revolution – the gamification of learning.   It’s not hard to imagine how the logic-based mechanics of Minecraft’s construction system could help teach knowledge and practical skills in fields … Read more

Bioengineers Have Modeled The Workings of The World’s Most Basic Synthetic Life Form

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Life is complicated. Even the smallest cells contain a mind-blowing assortment of chemical reactions that allow them to thrive in a chaotic landscape. If we want to know where to draw the line between life and bubbles of stale old organic soup, it helps to strip away the non-essential extras to expose the core components, … Read more

We Thought This Cell Death Phenomenon Was Irreversible, But We Were Wrong

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Pyroptosis, a type of programmed cell death related to infection and an inflammation response, can actually be stopped and managed, according to new research – whereas it was previously thought that the process was irreversible once it gets going.   Killing off cells with pyroptosis is something the body uses to stay healthy, though such … Read more

This Robotic Hand Is Precise Enough to Move a Microchip With Tweezers

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Innovators at South Korea’s Ajou University have created a robotic hand that is capable of holding fragile objects like eggs. It can also crush cans and work with tools like tweezers and scissors.   An article published in Nature Communications explained all the details of the new technology. It weighs just under two and a half pounds … Read more