Publicity in the Press

2024

• Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems—Simple Cells Can Do It (Scientific American | Feb. 1, 2024)

2023

• MicroMachines: Advances In Biorobotic Regenerative Medicine (Forbes | Dec. 22, 2023)
• 8 Stunning New Images From Neuroscience (The New York Times | Dec. 22, 2023)
• These tiny biological robots are made from human cells (Reuters, Nov. 30, 2023)
• Tiny living robots made from human cells surprise scientists (CNN, Nov. 30, 2023)
• Meet ‘anthrobots,’ tiny bio-machines built from human tracheal cells (Popular Science, Nov. 30, 2023)
• Tiny robots made from human cells heal damaged tissue (Nature, Nov. 30, 2023)
• Tiny ‘anthrobots’ built from human cells could help heal the body (Science, Nov. 30, 2023)
• Synthetic Morphology Lets Scientists Create New Life-Forms (Scientific American | May 1, 2023)
• These Researchers Used A.I. to Design a Completely New 'Animal Robot' (Scientific American, Mar. 6, 2023)

2022

• A new device helps frogs regrow working legs after an amputation -- The treatment spurred limb growth over 18 months (Science News, Jan. 31, 2022)
• Researchers are getting better at regenerating lab animals' limbs. They might regrow human body parts in your lifetime. (Business Insider, Jan. 29, 2022)
• Five-Drug Cocktail and Wearable Bioreactor Enable Regrowth of Amputated Adult Frog Leg (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, Jan. 27, 2022)
• Frogs can regrow amputated limbs after being treated with mix of drugs, new research finds (CNN, Jan. 26, 2022)
• Frogs Without Legs Regrow Leglike Limbs in New Experiment (The New York Times, Jan. 26, 2022)
• Frogs Regrow Missing Limbs in Lab Study, Advancing Key Effort of Regenerative Medicine (The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 26, 2022)

2021

• Scientists Create 'Living Machines' With Algorithms, Frog Cells (Bloomberg Businessweek, Dec. 16, 2021)
• [VIDEO] Study: "Living robots" made of frog cells found way to reproduce (CNBC News, Dec. 2, 2021)
• Living robots made in a lab have found a new way to self-replicate (National Public Radio Science, Dec. 1, 2021)
• AI Just Designed The World's First Living Robot That Can Make Babies (Forbes Magazine, Nov. 29, 2021)
• Living robots made from frog cells can replicate themselves in a dish (New Scientist, Nov. 29, 2021)
• Flatworms are Metal (The Atlantic | Oct. 8, 2021)
• Intelligent Beings Without Brains Are Abundant In Nature–A Growing Scientific Consensus (Forbes Magazine, Jul. 20, 2021)
• Scientists Observed a Brainless Blob Thinking and Making Decisions (VICE, Jul. 15, 2021)
• Persuading the Body to Regenerate Its Limbs (The New Yorker, May 3, 2021)
• Living robots made from frog skin cells can sense their environment (New Scientist, Mar. 31, 2021)
• Cells Form Into 'Xenobots' on Their Own (Quanta Magazine, Mar. 31, 2021)
• The World's First Programmable Organism: Xenobots may change how we think about intelligence (Pioneer Works, Mar. 11, 2021)
• The Link Between Bioelectricity and Consciousness (Nautilus, Mar. 10, 2021)

2020

• [VIDEO] Secret Mind of Slime (PBS NOVA, Sep. 15, 2020)
• Dr. Frankenstein siglo XXI: crea robots con partes de rana y quiere frenar el cáncer con bioelectricidad (Clarín, Sep. 15, 2020)
• Meet the Xenobots, Virtual Creatures Brought to Life (The New York Times, Apr. 3, 2020) [ pdf ]
• These tiny living robots could help science eavesdrop on cellular gossip (Popular Science, Jan. 17, 2020)
• Living Robots, Designed By Computer (Science Friday, Jan. 17, 2020)
• A research team builds robots from living cells (The Economist, Jan. 16, 2020)
• World's First "Living Machine" Created Using Frog Cells and Artificial Intelligence (Scientific American, Jan. 15, 2020)
• Researchers create robots made of living animal cells (Cosmos, Jan. 14, 2020)
• These "xenobots" are living machines designed by an evolutionary algorithm (MIT Technology Review, Jan 14, 2020)
• Algorithm Designs Robots Using Frog Cells (The Scientist, Jan. 13, 2020)
• Scientists Assemble Frog Stem Cells Into First 'Living Machines' (Smithsonian Magazine, Jan. 13, 2020)
• Meet Xenobot, an Eerie New Kind of Programmable Organism (WIRED, Jan. 13, 2020)
• Xenobot (on Wikipedia)

2019

• Mike Levin on electrifying insights into how bodies form (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Jul. 26, 2019)
• Inspiring New Machine Learning Platforms with Bioelectric Computation with Michael Levin (TWiML & AI, Jul. 15, 2019)
• Scientists unlock new role for nervous system in regeneration (Phys.org, Apr. 25, 2019)
• A Step Toward Regenerating Amputated Limbs (Alliance of Advanced BioMedical Engineering, Jan. 22, 2019)
• Frogs Have a Bioelectric Mirror (Featured as "Editor's Choice in Neuroscience" in The Scientist, Jan. 1, 2019)

2018

• Cross-body communication is electric in the froglet (Nature, Dec. 5, 2018)
• Scientists Got Adult Frogs to Regrow Limbs. It's a Step Toward Human 'Regeneration' (Discover Magazine, Nov. 6, 2018)
• A Progesterone-Pumping Device Helps Frogs Regenerate Lost Limbs (PBS NOVA, Nov. 6, 2018)
• Dr. Michael Levin: Investigating the Molecular Mechanisms Cells Use to Communicate During Development and Regeneration (People Behind the Science, Aug. 13, 2018)
• Controlling electric signals in the body could help it heal (Knowable Magazine, Aug. 10, 2018)
• Bioelectricity's Potential (PBS NOVA, Jun. 13, 2018)
• Space Worms: Unexpected Pioneers of Discovery & Commercial Services (Upward: Magazine of the ISS National Lab, June 2018)
• Brainless Embryos Suggest Bioelectricity Guides Growth (Quanta Magazine, Mar. 13, 2018)
• The Spark of Life (BioTechniques, Jan. 24, 2018)

2017

• Biotech experts' top five trends in 2017 (ResearchGate News, Dec. 22, 2017)
• He makes tadpoles with eyes on their tails. Could that one day help solve birth defects in humans? (STAT, Jan. 2, 2018)
• There's Healing Power in the Secret Electrical Language of Our Cells (Singularity Hub, Dec. 27, 2017)
• From day one, a frog's developing brain is calling the shots (Science News, Sep. 25, 2017)
• Space Worms Have Scientists Seeing Double (Heads) (CASIS, Jul. 15, 2017)
• Supercomputers Use Machine Learning to Gain New Insights into Complex Cellular Processes (Scientific Computing, Jun. 26, 2017)
• Space Life Could Give You An Extra Head (If You're A Flatworm) (Science Friday, Jun. 16, 2017)
• Un ver revient de l'espace avec deux têtes [Realites Biomedicales (blog de LeMonde.fr), Jun. 15, 2017]
• What Space-Faring Flatworms Can Teach Us About Human Health (Smithsonian.com, Jun. 13, 2017)
• Space oddity: Flatworm sent into orbit returns to Earth with an extra head (Digital Trends, Jun. 12, 2017)
• Tweaking the Tiny Electrical Charges Inside Cells Can Fight Infection (Smithsonian.com, May 26, 2017)
• Bioelectricity new weapon to fight dangerous infection (Medical Xpress, May 26, 2017)
• Bioelectric hacking creates two-headed flatworms (Cosmos, May 24, 2017)
• Researchers reveal bioelectric patterns guiding worms' regenerative body plan after injury (Phys.org, May 23, 2017)
• Bioelectric tweak makes flatworms grow a head instead of a tail (New Scientist, May 23, 2017)
• Nothing is Impossible (Biophysical Society, May 23, 2017)
• Heads or Tails (BioTechniques, Apr. 26, 2017)
• Blind tadpoles learn to see using eyeballs attached to their butts (PopularScience.com, Mar. 31, 2017)
• Eyes grafted into tadpole tails may see (Nature.com, Mar. 31, 2017)
• Tadpoles learn to see with new eyes transplanted on their tails (New Scientist, Mar. 30, 2017)
• How Life Turns Asymmetric (Quanta Magazine, Jan. 31, 2017)
• Artificial Intelligence Uncovers New Insight Into Biophysics of Cancer (Communications of the ACM, Jan. 27, 2017)
• Podcast:
  • Hacking our cells to grow new limbs (.mp3 audio file) | Interview on Futureproof website
    (Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea, Jan. 07, 2017)
• Grow with the flow: How electricity kicks life into shape (New Scientist, Jan. 4, 2017)

2016

• NASA mission brief: flatworms on the International Space Station (NASA, Nov. 22, 2016)
• Physarum paper covered by Annals of Improbable Research (Improbable Research, Aug. 19, 2016)
• Automated Experiments on Worms Help Understand Human Mind (Research & Development, Jul. 15, 2016)
• Replicating Life in Code (PBS NOVA, Jul. 6, 2016)
• Battling cancer with light (Reuters, Apr. 26, 2016)
• Paul G. Allen announces $100 million to launch the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (March 23, 2016)
• The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group Announces Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University (March 2016)
• Cancer stopped in frogs by hacking cells' bioelectricity (New Scientist, Mar. 16, 2016)

2015

• Tufts scientists make worms' heads turn (Boston Globe, Nov. 26, 2015)
• Scientists tweak worms to give them the brains of another species, without changing their genomes (Washington Post, Nov. 26, 2015)
• Scientists Have Made Worms With Heads Resembling Other Species (Popular Science, Nov. 25, 2015)
• Biologists induce flatworms to grow heads and brains of other species (Neuroscience News, Nov. 24, 2015)
• Putting it all on pigmentation: heuristics of a bold and stochastic cell fate decision (Science Signaling, October 6, 2015)
• Organs from the lab (Nature, June 2015)
• A Computer Just Solved This 100-Year-Old Biology Problem (Popular Mechanics, June 2015)
• Computer independently solves 120-year-old biological mystery (Wired, June 2015)
• Planarian regeneration model discovered by AI algorithm (Kurzweil AI, June 2015)
• Electrical zap of cells shapes growing brains (Science News, March 2015)
• Memory in the Flesh (The Verge, March 2015)
• Bioelectrical Signals Can Stunt or Grow Brain Tissue (Scientific American, March 11, 2015)
• Bioelectric signals spark brain growth (Nature, March 11, 2015)

2014

• Flatworms in space might hold key to human immortality (Cult of Mac, December 17, 2014)
• Tadpole eye transplant shows new way to grow nerves (Science News, December 2, 2014)
• Mapping The Body's Wiring For Medical Breakthroughs (Newsweek, August 7, 2014)
• Cracking the code to regrow human limbs (New Scientist, June 2, 2014)
• Could this man hold the secret to human regeneration? (Medium, January 2014)

2013

• An electrical misunderstanding (Physics World, 2013)
• Decapitated Worms Regrow Heads, Keep Old Memories (National Geographic, July 16, 2013)
• Surprising Science: These Decapitated Worms Regrow Old Memories Along with New Heads (Smithsonian, Jul. 11, 2013)
• Decapitated Worms Retain Old Memories after Regrowing Heads (Nature World News, Jul. 11, 2013)
• It's Electric: Biologists Seek to Crack Cell's Bioelectric Code (Scientific American, Mar. 27, 2013)
• Bioelectric signaling controls tissue shape and structure (PhysicsToday, March 2013)
• Tadpoles "see" with Eyes on Their Tails in Tufts Experiment (Feb-March 2013)
  • Boston.com
  • LiveScience
  • Science on NBC News
  • TheScientist
  • Science
  • The Boston Globe
  • ABC News

2012 and prior years

• Electric Shock (Read Matter, Dec. 2012)
• Meet Michael Levin, PhD. (Science for the Public)
• Building the Body Electric (Science News, Dec. 31, 2011)
• Researchers Discover that Changes in Bioelectric Signals can Trigger Organ Growth (Dec. 8, 2011)
  • Forbes
  • Science News
  • PhysOrg
• My, Your Eyes Are So Electric (Science, Dec. 7, 2011)
• Lessons on Regrowth, on a Small Scale (The Boston Globe, Jan. 3, 2011)
• An Electrical Switch for Cancer? (The Scientist, Oct. 19, 2010)
• Salt Infusion Could be a Remedy for Damaged Cells (Oct. 2010)
  • A Salty Tail
  • New York Times
• Recipes for Limb Renewal (Chemical and Engineering News, Aug. 2, 2010)
• Electricity Sparks Stem-Cell Transformation (New Scientist, Dec. 2008)
• Spark of Life: Electricity and Regeneration (Science, Sept. 2007)
• Electricity can spark limb regeneration (Feb. 28, 2007)
  • Nature
  • TheScientist