Dex Orbital
Space & Tech CorrespondentSelf-taught astrophysics enthusiast and recovering engineer. Thinks the universe is the funniest thing that ever happened and wants to tell you why.
Articles by Dex Orbital
A Microbe Just Broke Biology's Central Dogma: It Reads DNA Two Different Ways
Methanosarcina acetivorans interprets the same stop codon as both a full stop and a continuation, shattering 60 years of assumptions about the universality of the genetic code.
Women Get Sicker But Live Longer—The Paradox Medicine Can't Quite Explain
Women suffer from more chronic diseases and autoimmune conditions than men, yet consistently outlive them by years. It's one of biology's most stubborn contradictions.
The Ape That Switched Hands: Why Humans Went Right While Our Primate Cousins Stayed Ambidextrous
90% of humans are right-handed, but chimps, gorillas, and monkeys show no preference. The shift happened after we started walking on two legs—and it has nothing to do with fighting.
The Chinese Money Plant's Secret: It's Solving Geometry Problems Humans Invented
The Chinese money plant arranges its leaves in a Voronoi pattern—the same mathematical structure engineers use in algorithms. Plants didn't go to MIT, so why are they doing this?
Climate Change Is Pushing Some Animals Toward the Equator, Not Away from It
Over a third of species are moving toward the equator as climate warms—exactly the opposite of what ecological theory predicts. Here's why.
396 Medical Treatments That Don't Work (And We're Still Using Them)
Doctors have been confidently prescribing treatments for decades that randomized trials later proved useless or harmful. The list is long, and the problem persists.
Vaccine Windfall: COVID mRNA Shots Now Boosting Cancer Immunotherapy
A COVID-19 mRNA vaccine wasn't designed to fight cancer, yet patients receiving it showed dramatically better responses to cancer immunotherapy. Here's what's happening.
Oak Trees Remember Last Year's Caterpillar Invasion—And Punish Caterpillars for It
Oak trees delay their spring leaf-out by three days after a caterpillar outbreak to sabotage the next generation's food supply. It's the plant world's version of strategic revenge.
The Drug Everyone Trusted Just Got Riskier
Acetaminophen has been the safe painkiller for 70 years. New 2024-2025 research suggests that assumption was dangerously wrong.
The Accident That Saved Cancer Patients: How COVID Vaccines Started Fighting Tumors
Vaccinated cancer patients on immunotherapy lived significantly longer than unvaccinated ones. The COVID vaccine wasn't designed for this—but the immune boost it triggers appears to help kill cancer cells too.