Science – Zoe Cormier

Thread Lightly: Biofabrication and the End of Fast Fashion

Amidst the ecological fallout from fast fashion's disposable culture, innovators are turning to microbes to create durable, eco-friendly fabrics that challenge traditional manufacturing

12 November 2024

SynBioBeta

MDMA Shows New Promise for Trauma, but the Drug Alone Is Not a Cure

The illegal substance—paired with intensive therapy and hard work—dramatically improves PTSD symptoms

12 May 2021

Scientific American

Psilocybin Therapy May Work as Well as Common Antidepressant

For the first time, a randomized controlled trial shows the psychedelic offers potent, if short-term, relief in comparison with an SSRI

15 April 2021

Scientific American

Healed… by fungi?

Mushrooms are waiting for their moment in medicine

8 April 2021

Neo Life

The Second-Generation COVID Vaccines Are Coming

After Pfizer and Moderna, a slew of other candidates could fill gaps in efficacy, production or distribution

20 January 2021

Scientific American

Psilocybin Treatment for Mental Health Gets Legal Framework

Oregon became the first state to legalize therapeutic use of the drug as new research affirms its benefits for treating depression

1 December 2020

Scientific American

Lab-Made ‘Miniproteins’ Could Block the Coronavirus from Infecting Cells

Synthetic peptides that mimic human antibodies for COVID-19 could be cheaper and easier to produce

12 October 2020

Scientific American

How COVID-19 Can Damage The Brain

Some scientists suspect that Covid-19 causes respiratory failure and death not through damage to the lungs, but the brain – and other symptoms include headaches, strokes and seizures.

23 June 2020

BBC Future

The life-saving medicines inspired by animals

The latest technology allows us to look for potential medicines in the natural world without collecting or harming a single animal – all you need is their DNA.

8 May 2020

BBC Future

Why the Arctic is smouldering

We know the Arctic is melting – but it’s also on fire. And these wildfires could transform the pace, and scope, of global warming in ways that could affect us all.

27 August 2019

BBC Future

Psilocybin Could Open the Door to Legal Hallucinogens

Researchers are hoping the decriminalization vote in Denver could usher in a new era of therapeutic and recreational use

28 May 2019

Medium

Is Kambo Really the Next Wellness Trend?

Devotees say the gooey secretion scraped off a frog’s back can cure everything from acne to cancer. Could there be something to the hype?

8 May 2019

Medium

The loudest voice in the animal kingdom

Uncovering the remarkable and mysterious audio world of dolphins and whales.

5 November 2018

BBC Earth

It’s not a load of crap: turn your urine and faeces into treasure

Don’t wait for astronauts to show us how to recycle bodily waste into useful products. Here’s how you can extract value from your own liquid assets now

25 August 2017

The Guardian

Being Constantly Aroused is a Living Hell

Complaints are invariably greeted with laughter, not compassion.

16 June 2017

Vice

The Creepy, Insane, and Undeniably Romantic World of Cryonics

I went into it a skeptic—and I still don’t think it’ll work. And yet I’m sold.

26 April 2017

Vice

What are three-parent babies?

The first baby conceived using a controversial technique has been born in Mexico, but how does it work and are we at the dawn of the GM babies?

27 September 2016

BBC Focus

Is Pornography Warping Our Brains?

In a highly connected and mobile world, it's easy to get hold of porn, but is it a harmless way to spice up your love life, or something more sinister?

1 April 2016

BBC Focus

The Power of Music for Health

The more we learn about the power of music, the more medical applications we discover for it.

8 January 2016

BBC Focus

Banning laughing gas is a serious matter. The balloon protest treats it as a joke.

The proposed ban on nitrous oxide is irrational and unworkable, and requires serious challenge, not an inane demo in Parliament Square

31 July 2015

The Guardian

The Search for a Women’s Condom Alternative That Could Prevent HIV

“The possibility of having a ring that contains a microbicide and a contraceptive, in the same device? Now that would very attractive.”

23 July 2015

Vice

Could ecstasy be a potential treatment for PTSD?

The first clinical trial in Canada is under way to test whether the party drug could be part of a treatment for those with PTSD

13 July 2015

Maclean's

Let’s Get It On: The race for the world’s best condom

It’s hugely unpopular, worn by an estimated 5% of men around the world: can 11 design mavericks, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, reinvent the condom for a sexier, safer world?

13 June 2015

The Guardian

A History of the Ice Pick Lobotomy

It was decreed “the worst idea on the mind” in history in a public debate at the Royal Institution in 2006. Yet it seemed like such a good idea at the time—so good, it won its devisor the Nobel Prize.

12 June 2015

Vice

Your Baby Knows Music Better Than Most Adults

Each and every one of us is born with perfect pitch

24 April 2015

Medium

Animals Like to Get High in the Wild, Too

Humans aren’t the only ones who turn to drugs for a little bit of escape. In my new book on the science of hedonism, the quest by animals to get high is documented.

20 April 2015

The Daily Beast

On The Anniversary of the First Acid Trip, What Do We Now Know About LSD?

But one high is so famous it has a birthday: Bicycle Day, April 19, 1943. The world’s first acid trip.

19 April 2015

Vice

No link found between psychedelics and psychosis

In large US survey, users of LSD and similar drugs were no more likely to have mental-health conditions than other respondents.

4 March 2015

Nature News

Get drunk without a hangover on synthetic booze

Professor David Nutt has developed two new drugs that could do away with liver damage and alcohol-induced shame

22 January 2015

The Telegraph

How to see your music

Why settle for your standard music visualiser on your computer when you can create a three-dimensional one simply by filling an old speaker with baking soda?

14 January 2015

Wired