My name's Dan. I'm the Senior Editor at Massive Science. When I was a researcher, I would read paper after paper, wishing scientists would write like humans. Now, at Massive, I am striking "furthermore" and "additionally" from the human lexicon.

Biology is a spectrum

Life on Earth is complex and irreducible

Space futurism is stupid

There is no reason to think that billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk know what's best for humanity

The lab-leak hypothesis for COVID-19 is becoming a conspiracy theory

To explain where SARS-CoV-2 came from, look at processes with scientific explanations and precedents

An anonymous COVID-19 contact tracing app that warns you when your friends are sick

A different kind of contact tracing sounds an alarm when people in your social circle are falling ill

These are the health effects of tear gas

Tear gas can kill, but exposure can also cause chronic respiratory difficulty and severe eye injuries for months and potentially years after

What’s happening in Texas is climate nihilism

The disastrous blackouts are the government admitting they don't care if some people die

The Moderna mRNA vaccine works against newly emerged COVID-19 mutants

Mutants like B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 carrying changes in the virus spike protein appear to help the virus spread, but not to evade currently available vaccines

How is the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine delivered to cells?

RNA is fragile, and the bloodstream a hostile place for foreign objects. How does the vaccine actually get where it needs to go?

Sponsored by

The NIH is turning the human reference genome into a pangenome

An interview with the creative team behind "The Human Pangenome"

What is the COVID-19 polyclonal antibody treatment that President Trump took?

It's a mix of different antibodies that target the virus slightly differently for a combined effect

A potential sign of life has been discovered in the clouds of Venus

Scientists found phosphine in the atmosphere, a molecule commonly associated with life, but stressed that they had not discovered life itself

The US is deporting scientists. I’m one of them

ICE is using COVID-19 confusion as cover to force immigrant scientists out

Meet Lady Mary Montagu, who brought smallpox inoculation to England

This poet and essayist likely saved many lives from this deadly, disfiguring disease

CDC confirms three person-to-person cases of coronavirus in the United States

The number includes a patient in Sacramento County, California, but it does not include 44 people from a cruise ship quarantined in Japan

landscape with a rocket launch in the background

Watch a Dragon launch towards the International Space Station today!

Takeoff is at 12:30PM EST. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is resupplying the ISS with stuff for new experiments and tech demos

Painting of Spanish conquistadors in Arizona. Painting by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.

Conquistadors brought disease to the pumpkins and squash of the Americas

Cucumber disease, brought by invaders, jumped to native agriculture

A continuously updated list of bad genetics studies

Is there a gene for being a cat person? A dog person? A mean person? A selfish person?

Catch Mercury crossing in front of the Sun, or wait 'til 2032 for your next chance

From about 7:35AM to 1PM EST, a tiny dot will chug across the Sun

Climate strikers send a message: "Put your planet and its people over profit"

"We are supposed to be the 'leaders of tomorrow', but are being forced to become the leaders of today because our current leaders refuse to hear our cries"

The water supply for billions of people is drying up

The cryosphere is melting, sea levels are rising, and oceans are acidifying, says upcoming IPCC report

Genetically modified crops are way more common than you'd think

It's not just about what you eat – GM crops make their way into everything

Charles Darwin, made flesh and tedious

A new book humanizes the legend, but few will want to read it

Should peer review stop being anonymous?

Prominent researchers can take the gamble, but junior scientists risk retribution

Will genetic choice make sex obsolete?

Anyone hoping to shop for blemish-free, farm-to-crib babies with no diseases and a poet’s soul will be disappointed

Henry Greely, bioethicist and attorney, on why genetic tech isn't so scary

'I probably wouldn’t regulate anything except possibly parents'