Link25 (170) – The Engineered Mosquitoes Edition

The mosquito that is responsible for most of the world’s malaria has been genetically modified to spread genes that could wipe out its species.

Researchers engineered Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes — which spreads malaria across sub-Saharan Africa — to pass on genes that cause infertility in female offspring. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology1, relies on (click on the title to read the full article)

uring a chat with J.J. Abrams and Harrison Ford about The Force Awakens, Conan O’Brien invited the show’s associate producer and Star Wars fanatic, Jordan Schlansky, to ask the duo a question. It’s probably a simple one, right?

Wrong: (click to read the full article)

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. This was not only our final Moon landing, but the last time we left low Earth orbit. With the successful launch of the Orion capsule, NASA is finally poised to (Click on the title to read the full article).

Donald Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from America may be a gift to ISIS recruitment and a grotesque echo of the sentiment behind the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of Japanese-Americans. But, like those earlier spasms of exclusion, the Trump proposal has plenty of supporters.

In one recent poll, more than three-quarters of Republicans said that Islam was incompatible with life in the United States. There’s a widespread (click on the title to read the full article)

If there’s a single identifiable moment when Jewish Christmas—the annual American tradition where Jews overindulge on Chinese food on December 25—transitioned from kitsch into codified custom, it was during (Click the title to read the full article)

We debunked dozens of fake photos this year, covering everything from Charles Manson’s baby photos to John Lennon’s skateboarding skills, and everything in between. It was another busy year for (Click the title to read the full article)

For the first time, researchers have documented a direct link between the severity of someone’s autism symptoms and brain levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid. The findings advance hope for (Click on the title to read the full article).

The Vatican confirms a second miracle and says the Albanian-born nun will be made a saint. In her adopted hometown, the BBC’s Rahul Tandon finds (click on the title to read the full article)

Daniel Craig did cameo as a stormtrooper in the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens – despite having denied doing so – according to Entertainment Weekly.

Reporter Chris Lee, who broke the story of the James Bond star’s strident rebuttal to a long-standing rumour started by (click the title to read the full article).

When John Krasinski hits your multiplex this January, he’ll be a long way from the most-popular role of his career, as Jim from The Office.

He’ll be playing a Navy SEAL in (Click on the title to read the full article).

The blossoming Surface brand has provided Microsoft plenty to celebrate over the last year or two, but the most recent additions to the line haven’t quite met the expectations of some consumers. Now, the company has issued an apology from the team responsible for the hardware.
Released on behalf of the Surface team, a post on the community section of Microsoft’s Answers site makes reference to (Click on the title to read the full article)