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An international group of astronomers has made a significant discovery using NASA’s Keplar spacecraft. Three planets that are just a little bigger than Earth have been spotted orbiting an M-dwarf star known as EPIC 201367075 near the Sun. Find out more about these planets. 

A group of neuroscientists has developed a technique of making living cells and tissues bigger, which could enable biologists to image an entire brain in molecular detail using an ordinary microscope, and to resolve features that would normally be beyond the limits of optics. Read on to find out more about the technique.

A team led by Kim Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, has discovered a new class of antibiotic, which they have named teixobactin. The antibiotic acts against the deadly bacterium MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in mice, and a host of other pathogens in cell cultures. Find out how they conducted their study. 

Researchers have attributed the cause of cancer to two factors: heredity and lifestyle. However, environmental risk factors can alter the cancer rates among adult tissues contribute to the development of cancer. Now scientists at Johns Hopkins University have identified a third factor that helps explain why the chances of developing some kinds of cancer are higher than others.

A team of researchers has created human sperm and egg precursor cells in a lab using a person's skin cells. The team modeled their experiment on the research by stem-cell biologist Mitinori Saitou of Kyoto University, Japan, who created the first artificial primordial germ cells (PGCs) in mice but with an extremely low efficacy rate. Read on to know how this team built on the previous research. 

Researchers have been able to study 2 percent of the human genome in depth, which includes protein-coding DNA sequences. Professor Brendan Frey of the University of Toronto, has developed a “deep-learning” machine algorithm that can recognize patterns of mutation across coding and noncoding DNA. Read on to find out more. 

Giant sand dunes make up the surface of Titan, Saturn’s moon, and these dunes made of hydrocarbon particles may have existed for thousands of years. According to Ryan Ewing, a geologist at Texas A&M University in College Station, it may take as long as 3,000 Saturn years for a single dune to change direction. Read on for more interesting insights. 

Josephine Joordens, a biologist at Leiden University, found a seashell with a doodle that was made by Homo erectus half a million years ago. Read on to know how this discovery has raised speculations about H. erectus having abilities such as abstract thinking, which was attributed only to Homo sapiens.  

Graphene is the world’s thinnest and strongest material, made of a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. But a team of researchers has discovered graphene’s ability to withstand the onslaught of high-speed projectiles. Read on to find out more.

Although researchers have succeeded in sequencing the human genome, a thorough study of how human proteins operate and interact is essential. A group of researchers has made this possible by creating a new human interactome map. Read on to find out more.