Okay, ChatGPT can't cure COVID, but using AI to develop vaccines has shown promising results.
Even though COVID vaccines ultimately saved lives, many were lost in the early days of the disease because scientists couldn’t develop the vaccine faster than the virus spread, and they had to update it when the virus mutated. Now, a team at the University of Cambridge has a way to get ahead of things.
They took the genetic blueprint of multiple coronaviruses related to the one that caused COVID-19 (think: the guest list to the worst family reunion ever) and are using artificial intelligence to work on a vaccine that would protect against a range of the viruses. It’s the first time a vaccine’s key component has been designed by AI and tested on people, but the trial’s work could open up a world of possibilities. Success would signify that we can use an AI antigen that’s safe and, importantly, can represent a whole group of viruses. That would mean we could move away from chasing a particular infection when it happens and towards preventing a whole family of viruses.
It’s too soon to know for sure, but scientists are hopeful that this technology can be implemented to replace the flu vaccine, prepare for bird flu, or protect against hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola.
When you join your school band, you probably expect to perform in your school auditorium for friends and family. No shade to Gramps, but imagine the excitement when a group of kids learned that they were going to be performing at the massive Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool Football Club. Multiply that by 10,000,000, and that’s a fraction of what they may have felt when they learned they would be performing a Foo Fighters song there FOR the Foo Fighters!
The Bell Tower Beats is a band from Anfield Road Primary School, who had the pleasure (and pressure) of playing "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters for the actual members of the Foo Fighters. The performance was organized by a year three teacher, and has gone viral on news and media sources. Not only was the performance fun, but it helped bring attention to the opportunity to join the school band.
When it comes to gathering water data, the “employee of the month” may look a little on the “green and cubical” side. Alongside Yorkshire rivers, there are multiple green boxes working hard to gather data on river quality that should, in a couple years, be available for river users and potential swimmers to access through an app that tracks pollution.
Though there are currently apps that show pollution data, that information is old and outdated. This upcoming app is special, because it will use live data from an on-site sensor to provide real-time pollution levels in the water. It’s not meant to tell people “safe” or “not safe” or “swim” or “don’t swim,” but it can give people what they need to make an informed decision... mostly.
The green boxes have a big shortcoming: they’re unable to detect some really nasty bacteria like E.coli, which can only be measured in a lab. But don’t worry, old-school scientists are on the case, manually taking samples to send away for analysis. These findings will be used to build a data set that will be combined with green box data, and AI learning will infer when E.coli (and other bugs) are present in the river.
So, today, we celebrate a beautiful marriage — one of traditional testing, new technology, and AI. It may not be the pairing you’re rooting for on Love Island, but it shows great promise for water safety!
Chemotherapy works. It also takes a serious toll — on energy, on the immune system, on everyday quality of life. For decades, that trade-off has been treated as unavoidable. A new drug being used to treat ovarian cancer suggests it might not have to be.
The treatment works by attaching a chemotherapy drug to an antibody — a protein the body uses naturally to identify and target specific cells. When the drug enters the body, the antibodies seek out cancer cells specifically, binding to them and leaving healthy tissue alone. Once inside the cancer cell, the antibody breaks down and releases the chemotherapy drug, destroying the cancer from within. The rest of the body barely notices.
For patients like Patricia Hill, the difference has been significant. After multiple rounds of conventional chemotherapy in the 3 years since her ovarian cancer diagnosis, she describes finally feeling well enough to socialize and enjoy daily life again. That shift — from surviving treatment to actually living alongside it — is what researchers have spent decades working toward.
The drug is still being studied, but early results point in two directions that matter: better quality of life during treatment, and the possibility of longer survival afterward. Those two things don't always come together in cancer research. When they do, it tends to mean something genuinely new is happening.
If you’ve ever wanted to ask Brussels sprouts… just… why? Well, you may be able to get pretty close. There’s an exhibition called Talking Plants at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, where visitors can talk to plants! Well, anyone can always talk to plants. But, in this greenhouse, artificial intelligence is being used to get the plants to respond.
The exhibit features a variety of plant life to go with 20 AI personalities a Cambridge professor, Sam, and his team created for the garden. With a QR code and a phone, visitors can come in and engage with the plants, ask them questions, and listen to their responses. Each plant has its own name, personality, and based on where in the world it's from, and some can speak multiple languages. They can even tell jokes!
Two is shopping for dancing shoes. Let's meet a magical new friend. Two Times Table likes things that come in twos! Color to make pairs. When you count up in pairs, use the Two Times Table!
1 x 2 = 2
2 x 2 = 4
2 x 3 = 6
2 x 4 = 8
2 x 6 = 10
2 x 6 = 12
Watch full episodes of Numberblocks on their official YouTube channel!
In Spider Web Design, spiders create amazing webs, but how do they do it? Scientists have learned how spiders create and use multiple types of silk to design webs. Humans are starting to apply the qualities of spiders’ silk to engineering projects.
In Who’s Your Source?, host Radzi Chinyanganya examines how reporters get their information from different sources and ensure their accuracy. For example, BBC journalists exposed a network of hidden detention centers in Western China where Muslims were detained without a trial. The Chinese government was working hard to keep this story hidden by closely monitoring, and even detaining, journalists. Reporters used satellites to investigate, and they also interviewed Muslims in Turkey who claimed to have been in the detention compounds. They looked for consistency and overlap in their stories. Verifying information from multiple sources helps a journalist assess a story and tell it accurately. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
You’ve probably never thought about combining math and art class, but maybe now, you will! This teacher shares his new approach to math, where he uses colors to represent different numbers.
He assigned 10 numbers to 10 different colors — zero is white, one is black, two is red, and so on. That means combinations of numbers become combinations of colors. The result is an equation that’s educational and pretty at the same time!
What starts as multiplication or patterns quickly begins to look more like art class than math class. But behind the colors is real number sense, memory tricks, and a whole new way of thinking about equations. Turns out math might be a lot more visual — and creative — than most people realize.
The article "The Last Days of the Neanderthals: When and Why Our Ancient Cousins Disappeared" from BBC's HistoryExtra explores how and why Neanderthals vanished from the Earth. Archaeological evidence and genetic studies point to multiple factors, including climate change, competition with Homo sapiens, and interbreeding. Despite their extinction, Neanderthal DNA still lives on in modern humans.
In the video Treating Multiple Sclerosis With Stem Cell Therapy, meet Stephen, a man who lost his ability to move due to multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. Follow his journey as he undergoes an innovative stem cell treatment to restore his nervous system and regain mobility. Learn about the immune system, autoimmune diseases, and how stem cells can be used to repair damaged systems in the body. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
Okay, ChatGPT can't cure COVID, but using AI to develop vaccines has shown promising results.
Even though COVID vaccines ultimately saved lives, many were lost in the early days of the disease because scientists couldn’t develop the vaccine faster than the virus spread, and they had to update it when the virus mutated. Now, a team at the University of Cambridge has a way to get ahead of things.
They took the genetic blueprint of multiple coronaviruses related to the one that caused COVID-19 (think: the guest list to the worst family reunion ever) and are using artificial intelligence to work on a vaccine that would protect against a range of the viruses. It’s the first time a vaccine’s key component has been designed by AI and tested on people, but the trial’s work could open up a world of possibilities. Success would signify that we can use an AI antigen that’s safe and, importantly, can represent a whole group of viruses. That would mean we could move away from chasing a particular infection when it happens and towards preventing a whole family of viruses.
It’s too soon to know for sure, but scientists are hopeful that this technology can be implemented to replace the flu vaccine, prepare for bird flu, or protect against hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola.
When you join your school band, you probably expect to perform in your school auditorium for friends and family. No shade to Gramps, but imagine the excitement when a group of kids learned that they were going to be performing at the massive Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool Football Club. Multiply that by 10,000,000, and that’s a fraction of what they may have felt when they learned they would be performing a Foo Fighters song there FOR the Foo Fighters!
The Bell Tower Beats is a band from Anfield Road Primary School, who had the pleasure (and pressure) of playing "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters for the actual members of the Foo Fighters. The performance was organized by a year three teacher, and has gone viral on news and media sources. Not only was the performance fun, but it helped bring attention to the opportunity to join the school band.
When it comes to gathering water data, the “employee of the month” may look a little on the “green and cubical” side. Alongside Yorkshire rivers, there are multiple green boxes working hard to gather data on river quality that should, in a couple years, be available for river users and potential swimmers to access through an app that tracks pollution.
Though there are currently apps that show pollution data, that information is old and outdated. This upcoming app is special, because it will use live data from an on-site sensor to provide real-time pollution levels in the water. It’s not meant to tell people “safe” or “not safe” or “swim” or “don’t swim,” but it can give people what they need to make an informed decision... mostly.
The green boxes have a big shortcoming: they’re unable to detect some really nasty bacteria like E.coli, which can only be measured in a lab. But don’t worry, old-school scientists are on the case, manually taking samples to send away for analysis. These findings will be used to build a data set that will be combined with green box data, and AI learning will infer when E.coli (and other bugs) are present in the river.
So, today, we celebrate a beautiful marriage — one of traditional testing, new technology, and AI. It may not be the pairing you’re rooting for on Love Island, but it shows great promise for water safety!
Chemotherapy works. It also takes a serious toll — on energy, on the immune system, on everyday quality of life. For decades, that trade-off has been treated as unavoidable. A new drug being used to treat ovarian cancer suggests it might not have to be.
The treatment works by attaching a chemotherapy drug to an antibody — a protein the body uses naturally to identify and target specific cells. When the drug enters the body, the antibodies seek out cancer cells specifically, binding to them and leaving healthy tissue alone. Once inside the cancer cell, the antibody breaks down and releases the chemotherapy drug, destroying the cancer from within. The rest of the body barely notices.
For patients like Patricia Hill, the difference has been significant. After multiple rounds of conventional chemotherapy in the 3 years since her ovarian cancer diagnosis, she describes finally feeling well enough to socialize and enjoy daily life again. That shift — from surviving treatment to actually living alongside it — is what researchers have spent decades working toward.
The drug is still being studied, but early results point in two directions that matter: better quality of life during treatment, and the possibility of longer survival afterward. Those two things don't always come together in cancer research. When they do, it tends to mean something genuinely new is happening.
If you’ve ever wanted to ask Brussels sprouts… just… why? Well, you may be able to get pretty close. There’s an exhibition called Talking Plants at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, where visitors can talk to plants! Well, anyone can always talk to plants. But, in this greenhouse, artificial intelligence is being used to get the plants to respond.
The exhibit features a variety of plant life to go with 20 AI personalities a Cambridge professor, Sam, and his team created for the garden. With a QR code and a phone, visitors can come in and engage with the plants, ask them questions, and listen to their responses. Each plant has its own name, personality, and based on where in the world it's from, and some can speak multiple languages. They can even tell jokes!
Two is shopping for dancing shoes. Let's meet a magical new friend. Two Times Table likes things that come in twos! Color to make pairs. When you count up in pairs, use the Two Times Table!
1 x 2 = 2
2 x 2 = 4
2 x 3 = 6
2 x 4 = 8
2 x 6 = 10
2 x 6 = 12
Watch full episodes of Numberblocks on their official YouTube channel!
In Spider Web Design, spiders create amazing webs, but how do they do it? Scientists have learned how spiders create and use multiple types of silk to design webs. Humans are starting to apply the qualities of spiders’ silk to engineering projects.
In Who’s Your Source?, host Radzi Chinyanganya examines how reporters get their information from different sources and ensure their accuracy. For example, BBC journalists exposed a network of hidden detention centers in Western China where Muslims were detained without a trial. The Chinese government was working hard to keep this story hidden by closely monitoring, and even detaining, journalists. Reporters used satellites to investigate, and they also interviewed Muslims in Turkey who claimed to have been in the detention compounds. They looked for consistency and overlap in their stories. Verifying information from multiple sources helps a journalist assess a story and tell it accurately. This video is excerpted from BBC’s My World, a program created for teenagers eager to learn more about the important stories shaping our world.
You’ve probably never thought about combining math and art class, but maybe now, you will! This teacher shares his new approach to math, where he uses colors to represent different numbers.
He assigned 10 numbers to 10 different colors — zero is white, one is black, two is red, and so on. That means combinations of numbers become combinations of colors. The result is an equation that’s educational and pretty at the same time!
What starts as multiplication or patterns quickly begins to look more like art class than math class. But behind the colors is real number sense, memory tricks, and a whole new way of thinking about equations. Turns out math might be a lot more visual — and creative — than most people realize.
The article "The Last Days of the Neanderthals: When and Why Our Ancient Cousins Disappeared" from BBC's HistoryExtra explores how and why Neanderthals vanished from the Earth. Archaeological evidence and genetic studies point to multiple factors, including climate change, competition with Homo sapiens, and interbreeding. Despite their extinction, Neanderthal DNA still lives on in modern humans.
In the video Treating Multiple Sclerosis With Stem Cell Therapy, meet Stephen, a man who lost his ability to move due to multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. Follow his journey as he undergoes an innovative stem cell treatment to restore his nervous system and regain mobility. Learn about the immune system, autoimmune diseases, and how stem cells can be used to repair damaged systems in the body. This video is excerpted from BBC’s The World’s Most Extraordinary People, a documentary series revealing how rare medical conditions inspire groundbreaking scientific discoveries.