Gene Editing Breakthrough Gives Teens a New Life
Most of us don’t think much about our blood until we get a paper cut or a scraped knee. 16-year-old Vianne has had to think about hers for most of her life. She has thalassemia, a serious blood disorder. Her body couldn’t make enough healthy hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body. She needed blood transfusions every month, and she was often exhausted.
Then she received a new gene-editing treatment.
First, doctors collected some of her stem cells. These are cells that haven’t yet become a particular type, so they can copy themselves and turn into other kinds of cells. In a laboratory, scientists edited the cells’ DNA so they would make more fetal hemoglobin, the kind babies make before they’re born. This extra hemoglobin makes up for the faulty kind that causes thalassemia. Months later, the edited cells were put back into Vianne’s body.
Doctors call the result a “functional cure.” Vianne still has the genetic condition, but its main symptoms have eased so much that she no longer needs transfusions. That means fewer hospital visits and much more energy.
The same treatment is also being used for sickle cell disease. 14-year-old Joel is just starting the process. It isn’t easy: patients need chemotherapy first, to clear space in their bone marrow for the edited cells. But Vianne says it was worth it.
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At the start of 2026, Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo said goodbye to two of its most famous residents: twin giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei.
The twins were born at the zoo in 2021 and quickly became stars. In their final weeks in Japan, so many families wanted to see them that visitors were picked by lottery.
The pandas were always meant to go back to China. China doesn’t sell or give away its giant pandas. It lends them to other countries, and the loans often depend on how well the two governments get along. This is known as “panda diplomacy.”
The twins left at a tense moment. Relations between China and Japan worsened after Japan’s new prime minister made comments about Taiwan, an island that governs itself but that China claims as part of its territory.
Now, for the first time since 1972, Japan has no giant pandas. That date matters. 1972 was the year Japan and China restored official relations, and China marked it by sending Japan its first pair of pandas. Japan would like more pandas, but officials say a new loan looks unlikely for now.
So the pandas are home in China, and Japan is waiting for a reply.
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The flight was impressive, but experts had one big question: Why? Compressed air can’t store much energy, so the car can only stay airborne for a very short time.
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