13 must-read science stories of the week

Welcome to your weekly science update – a curated list of this week’s most interesting stories in science.

The future of discrimination? An anonymous programmer released an online tool that can block access to a webpage based on sex, race, ancestry, disease susceptibility, and other arbitrary characteristics. It’s based on data from public DNA-testing websites.

A cousin for the Earth. NASA’s Keplar Mission found an “Earth-like” planet. Astronomer Phil Plait explains why this is exciting.

We need bigger space telescopes to assess new atmospheres for signs of life. And the’re coming soon — China has begun building the five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, which will be the largest radio telescope.

New hope for Alzheimer’s. After years of disappointment, new trials suggest that antibody treatments can slow the disease’s progress.

Outrage over cancer drug prices. Leading oncologists have spoken out over soaring cancer-drug prices. They want new regulatory controls.

The genome editing revolution. A great feature delving deep into the CRISPR gene editing technology — the huge potential and the growing ethical concerns.

Cycles of sleep deprivation during the week followed by a “catch-up” at the weekend are producing an epidemic of grogginess. Social jetlag means many can never function at their full cognitive potential.

Learning to share. What happens when the results of a landmark study that have influenced public health policies around the world turn out, years later, to be impossible to replicate? Why scientists need to share their data earlier.

Where are all the aliens? The search for extra-terrestrial life just got a $100 million boost from Russian tech tycoon Yuri Milner.

The ethics of tech. Three articles exploring the profound social implications of today’s technology: How will robots change the future of warfare? How is our data making decisions for us? How is virtual reality challenging our notion of self?

Author: David Gleicher is Senior Programme Manager, Science and Technology, at the World Economic Forum.

Image: An artist’s concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun in this NASA image released on July 23, 2015.  REUTERS/NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T.