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After linking computers and everyday objects, the internet’s third phase could connect directly to our bodies through microscopic sensors, says Professor Francesco Grillo of Bocconi University, Milan, who i met recently at the Prototypes for Humanity conference in Dubai. These gel-based “biorobots” won’t just monitor your health, they’ll actively heal you, releasing aspirin when they detect blood clots or activating vaccines when viruses attack.
This technology could save millions of lives by detecting silent heart attacks, delivering treatments from within by releasing medication when needed, and transforming medical research with real-time data from our organs. While the hope is to create more accessible healthcare for everyone, the risk is that we lose part of our humanity as our bodies become increasingly digitised. It’s a new and unfamiliar frontier that demands careful navigation.
Also this week: why Donald Trump’s plan to automate scientific discovery with AI misunderstands what makes science work – and 20 academics on the books that steered them through their twenties.
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The 1960s film Fantastic Voyage envisaged a team of scientists being shrunk and injected into the brain of an astronaut to deal with a brain tumour.
United Archives GmbH
Francesco Grillo, Bocconi University
Medicine is on the brink of an era where microscopic devices inside our bodies connect us directly to the digital world.
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Iranians pray for rain in Tehran on Nov. 14, 2025. The city is experiencing its worst drought in decades.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images
Ali Mirchi, Oklahoma State University; Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine; Kaveh Madani, United Nations University; Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; United Nations University
Iran’s sprawling cities and irrigated agriculture, along with tight market controls, have left the country vulnerable to drought. There are steps that would help.
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There are steps you can take to relieve headache pain and prevent future attacks.
Thai Liang Lim/E+ via Getty Images
Katherine Cobb-Pitstick, University of Pittsburgh
Many different types of stress can trigger a headache. Luckily, there are treatments that can help stop your head from pounding.
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Wealthy New Yorkers have threatened to leave the city if Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani follows through on his promise to raise taxes on the rich.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
Cristobal Young, Cornell University
Research on millionaire migration reveals that social and professional ties matter far more than marginal tax rates.
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Ivano W. Aiello, San José State University
The Moss Landing battery fire became an unintended experiment – showing how burning lithium-ion cells scattered nickel, cobalt and manganese over a protected marsh.
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Nathan MacDonald, University of Cambridge
The map of the Holy Land in Christopher Froschauer’s 1525 Old Testament has the Mediterranean to the east of Palestine instead of to the west.
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Adrian R Bell, University of Reading; Anne Curry, University of Southampton; Jason Sadler, University of Southampton
We created the database in order to challenge assumptions about the lack of professionalism of everyday soldiers.
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Lars Cornelissen, Manchester Metropolitan University; Independent Social Research Foundation
When the language of racism lost scientific legitimacy, it changed shape and began targeting cultures instead.
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Amy Ross Arguedas, University of Oxford; Nic Newman, University of Oxford
The most prominent news creators on social media and video networks are men and YouTube is the most important platform for them.
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Fergus Edwards, University of Tasmania
One of the most critically acclaimed playwrights of our age, Tom Stoppard, has died at 88. He assumed his audience was as well read and inquisitive as he was.
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Mathelinda Nabugodi, UCL; Andrew Dix, Loughborough University; Ankhi Mukherjee, University of Oxford; Dominic Davies, City St George's, University of London; Harsh Trivedi, University of Sheffield; Leighan M Renaud, University of Bristol; Sarah Olive, Aston University; Sarah Trott, York St John University; Torbjörn Forslid, Lund University; Viktoriia Grivina, University of St Andrews
Many of us turn to literature to guide us through the highs and the lows of this formative time
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