A new study using specially-calibrated lasers was conducted to test the acuity for pain. Some areas of the body are more sensitive to pain than others. The study found that the spatial acuity was strongest towards the center of the body, and acuity for pain and touch are fairly similar. They both correspond with the amount of nerve fibers in each section of the body, except in the case of the fingertips. 

Researchers have created an assay that can analyze nucleotide sugar transporter functions in plants and characterize them. This assay can provide information that is very beneficial to the genetic engineering of plants. The information learned from the assay has already been used to change plants' biomass sugar composition. This sugar can be a very effective source of energy. The more sugar content the cell walls have, the more energy the plant will be able to provide. 

Researchers have recently discovered that hydroxynorketamine (HNK) may be just as effective in treating depression as ketamine. Studies using rats showed that the drug maybe more useful than ketamine, due to the fact  that it does not act as an anesthetic agent. and it is a lot stronger. HNK could also be used in neurodegenerative disorders because it slows D-serine production, which allows neuron connections to reform. 

Children who are abused are more likely to develop serious health problems later down the line. New research has shown that maltreated children have certain changes to their glucocorticoid receptor gene which controls social functioning. The changes in this gene also impact the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, causing difficulties controlling emotional behavior and stress levels. The immune system is also affected by this gene. This explains why abused children are more likely to develop certain illnesses as well as emotional problems. 

MIT has been able to create a robot muscle that can go between rigid and squishy states. The wires that can control the heat of the foam and wax in the material of the robot muscle allow it to go from one state to another. This robot muscle can be very useful in shape-shifting robots. 

Scientists have now discovered a way to edit genes in wild populations. The scientists would make an edited version of the organism's gene and insert the CRISPR system, a technology that can cut any given gene. So when it came time for this organism with the edited gene to to mate with others with the normal version of the gene, the offspring would inherit both the edited and normal version of the gene, but the CRISPR system would cut the normal copy of the gene. The cell will then copy the edited version of the gene to fix the damage. Therefore, the offspring would have 2 copies of the edited version of the gene. CRISPR gene drives can be beneficial to people and the environment, but it has its limitations. It will not be used immediately to see what the public has to say about this type of management. 

Lung cancer is able to metastasize quickly. Many lung cancer patients are missing an anti-cancer gene called LKB1. It was recently discovered that LKB1 is important because it sends instructions to a gene called DIXDC1, which keeps the cells in their place. The cancer either deletes LKB1 or takes control of DIXDC1. Scientists also found out that they were able to slow the spread of the cancer by reactivating DIXDC1. This means that patients missing either of these two genes would gain better results from newer therapies which focus on focal adhesion enzymes. 

Materialists scientists have said that DNA stores all the information needed to create a human body. However, the Human Genome Project shows otherwise. The scientists working in the project found that humans have about 20,000 protein-coding genes. That is no where near enough storage to hold all the information needed to make a human being because people are so complex. This shows that genes alone can not fully explain inheritance. 

Recent studies have shown that other species besides humans experience jealousy. Psychology professor Christine Harris designed a study to try to understand the emotion in infants by using dogs. She concluded that jealousy has a basic form that can be found in human infants and other social species. 

The brain has a balance between "gray matter" and "white matter." People suffering from chronic stress tend to have more white matter, which is white tissue with a  myelin coating. Studies have shown that the stem cells in people with chronic stress mature into oligodendrocytes, which produce myelin. As a result, their learning and memory skills are affected because more oligodendrocytes are being produced instead of neurons. It is also believed that stress causes the hippocampus to become strongly connected to the amygdala, weakening the connection to the prefrontal cortex. This means that people with stress disorders have faster fear responses and have bigger responses to stressful situations than they normally would.