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You’ve probably heard of the molecular scalpel CRISPR-Cas9, which can edit or delete whole genes. Now, scientists have developed a more precise version of the DNA-editing tool that can repair even smaller segments of a person’s genome. In two studies published this month, one in  Nature  and another in  Science , researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard describe a new way to edit DNA and RNA, called base editing. The approach could one day treat a range of inherited diseases, some of which currently have no treatment options. The human genome contains six billion DNA letters, or chemical bases known as A, C, G and T. These letters pair off—A with T and C with G—to form DNA’s double helix. Base editing, which uses a modified version of CRISPR, is able to change a single one of these letters at a time without making breaks to DNA’s structure. That’s useful because sometimes just one base pair in a long strand of DNA ...

After decades of hype and headlines, quantum computers are finally poised to demonstrate their superiority over conventional machines. Precisely when this will happen is a bit fuzzy, though. What’s more, it will be a while yet before these magical machines will have any noticeable impact on our lives. The point at which a quantum machine should be able to perform computations too complex to model on any conventional machine, a landmark known as “quantum supremacy,” is believed to be about 49 qubits, the quantum equivalent of the bits that represent  1  or  0  in a conventional computer. Google’s researchers appear to be leading in the race for a 49-qubit machine though researchers at IBM’s quantum research lab in Yorktown Heights, New York have demostrated that it is possible to model the behavior of a quantum computer beyond the 49-qubit landmark by harnessing several clever mathematical techniques. IBM is also allowing programmers to experiment with...

Google, this October launched its first pair of wireless headphones featuring real time language translation from Google Translate. The headphones, called Google Pixel Buds, connect to an Android or “Googlepixel"   smartphone , connecting to the voice-controlled Google Assistant to make phone calls, play music or even understand other languages. The translation software allows users to both listen to and speak in foreign languages using their smartphone. For listening services, holding down the earbud will translate another language into the user's chosen language. Users can also use the Google Assistant to speak other languages using the Google Translate app. By pressing the earbud and saying "let me speak Italian", users will be able to talk in English and their smartphone speakers will automatically translate into Italian. The Google Assistant and Earbuds will initially support 40 languages and starts at £159 in the UK with a release date on Novemb...

The car's arrival marks the next stage in Google’s self-driving car project, which was born from the Darpa Grand Challenges for robotic vehicles in the early 2000s. Google kickstarted its own self-driving car project in 2008, and it has been rumbling on ever since, first with modified Toyota Prius and then with customised Lexus SUVs, which took the car’s existing sensors, such as the cruise-control cameras, and added a spinning laser scanner on the top. It ferries two people from one place to another without any user interaction. The car is summoned by a smartphone for pick up at the user’s location with the destination set. There is no steering wheel or manual control, simply a start button and a big red emergency stop button. In front of the passengers there is a small screen showing the weather, the current speed and a small countdown animation to launch. Once the journey is done, the small screen displays a message to remind you to take your personal belongings – reinforcin...

The Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed an electric transport system where the vehicles get their power needs from cables underneath the surface of the road via non-contact magnetic charging. Besides potentially saving Korea a lot of money by reducing crude oil imports, widespread adoption of the technology also offers the potential of improving air quality in currently polluted cities for example those in China. The drive towards adoption of the electric vehicle as a popular and viable means of transport is beginning to highlight a few potential road blocks which may not be enough to halt progress but may require some inventive thinking. Limitations on battery size and power, the issue of battery weight, the range of an electric vehicle between charges, how long it takes to recharge the batteries, and not forgetting the availability of charging points and who foots the bill - all currently hot topics in the world of electric vehicle creation. ...

As  many  scientists  and  enterprises  see  the  next  generation  of  energy  storage  device,  a  new  type  of  battery  using  metal  and  air  has  been  considered  a  "dream  battery"  with  cheap  production  costs  and  high  capacity.   A  group  of  chemists  in  Korea,  led  by the Ulsan  National  Institute  of  Science  and  Technology  (UNIST)  professor  Kim  Gun-tae,  has  succeeded  in  developing  a  key  catalyst  to  realize  the  "metal-air"  battery,  according  to  the  institute .   The    development  of  the  new  catalyst is  expected to  expedite  the  commercial...