A pain-free injection against asthma.

Send them out to the barn

Compound found in animals but not humans 
sparks immunity against asthma

It’s already known that farm kids are less prone to asthma, but a new study by immunologists from the University of Zurich has identified sialic acid found in farm animals as the reason. A university release said this substance is widespread in vertebrates and therefore in many farm animals, but missing in the human organism.

Quinoa, seen growing wild here in Peru at an altitude of 3,800 metres, is an example of one crop that could be better domesticated with modern technology.

Planned mutations can increase crop options

The most common food crops benefited from natural mutations and modern technology could aid this process

There are more than 300,000 plant species in existence, but just three — rice, wheat and corn — account for almost all of the plant matter consumed by humans. In no small part that’s because natural mutations arose making these crops the easiest to harvest. But with gene editing technology like CRISPR, researchers suggest we