Jay Kakade

Jay is a freelance science writer, focused on the intersection of technological advancements, gadgets, and scientific discoveries. Over the last few years, his work has been published in New Atlas, BBC Wildlife, Live Science, New Scientist, Tech Explorist, Inceptive Mind, and Science News.

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Biology

Researchers gene-edit the bitterness out of grapefruit

In the late 1990s researchers identified the key gene responsible for producing the bitter compounds in grapefruit. Now, using the genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9, the team has inactivated the gene in grapefruit to eliminate that bitter taste.

Latest Articles

Biology

The world’s oldest known vertebrates had two pairs of eyes

The earliest ancestors of all backboned animals, including humans, may have viewed the world with four eyes, not just two, according to a new study. The remnants of those extra eyes persist deep in the human brain today as the pineal organ.
Biology

Forests glow under UV light, and deer can see it

For the first time, researchers have tracked how deer use photoluminescent markers as signposts on trees to communicate with one another. Their unique visual acuity allows them to see in ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to human eyes.
Archaeology

8,000-year-old pottery suggests math predates writing

We generally associate the origins of mathematical thinking with the emergence of writing but a new study challenges this assumption looking at floral designs found on the pottery sherds across northern Mesopotamia, dating back 8000 years.
Biology

Plants that touch each other are more resilient to stress

New research has found when plant leaves physically touch each other, they seem to form a biological signalling network to warn each other about upcoming stress. This boosts resilience to intense light, a common environmental challenge.
Biology

Jellyfish sleep just like us, and even take midday naps

A new study reveals jellyfish not only sleep but do so for the same portion of their day as humans, spending about one-third of the day sleeping. The findings also suggest that sleep evolved way before the brain to help maintain cells under stress.
Diet & Nutrition

Humans stopped producing our own Vitamin C to fight parasitic infections

Most mammals produce their own Vitamin C but around 60 million years ago, humans lost this ability. New research suggests this was not an innocuous evolutionary shift but actually a clever defense against the parasitic infections.
Mental Health

Laughing gas a promising treatment for depression

Nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas, has shown rapid antidepressant effects in people with depression, with symptoms easing within hours of inhaling it. The treatment involves breathing in a mix of nitrous oxide and oxygen for up to an hour.
Archaeology

Neanderthals weren’t picky meat eaters – they munched on maggots, too

Using chemical clues from Neanderthal bones, researchers have placed them at the top of the food chain, alongside apex predators like lions. However, until now, experts have been missing out on one of their key, fat-rich, food sources: Maggots.
Archaeology

Neanderthals were actually making fire 400,000 years ago

Once thought an exclusive human skill, the ability to make fire on demand has long been seen as a turning point in our evolutionary story. But new research suggests Neanderthals also mastered fire-making hundreds of thousands of years before Homo sapiens.
Body and Mind

Tattoo ink may cause prolonged changes to the immune system

Tattoos have gained widespread popularity but according to a new study they may not be harmless decorations. Tattoo ink doesn’t just stay in the skin; it travels and accumulates in the lymph nodes, potentially causing lifelong changes to the immune system.