Conner Curran, 9, (right) and his brother Will, 7, at their home in Ridgefield, Conn. The gene therapy treatment that stopped the muscle wasting of Conner's muscular dystrophy two years ago took more than 30 years of research to develop. Kholood Eid for NPR hide caption
Scientists in Canada have diagnosed malignant cancer for the first time in a dinosaur, a Centrosaurus apertus from 76 to 77 million years ago. Sergey Krasovskiy/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images hide caption
Farmers work during a harvest in Jutland, Denmark. People keep worrying about food shortages. Some economists say the fears actually create their own problems. Nick Brundle Photography/Getty Images hide caption
Vaccine-makers are readying 190 million doses of the flu vaccine for deployment across the U.S. this fall — 20 million more doses than in a typical year. A nasal spray version will be available, as well as shots. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
British archaeologists work, on October 2, 2009, at the ruins of an arena built early in the third century BC outside Ostia, the ancient imperial port near Rome. Sarah Parcak's work using satellite imagery and data led to the discovery of the site. Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., near the border with South Carolina. Pictured are people walking through floodwaters in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Sean Rayford/Getty Images hide caption
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change met in Incheon, South Korea, in October 2018. The pandemic has forced scientists around the world to write the latest U.N. climate report without meeting in person. Jung Yeon-Je /AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The health threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic is particularly intense for people with cancer. Medication weakens the immune system. Cancer treatments are often delayed. FG Trade/Getty Images hide caption
The SpaceX capsule sits aboard a recovery ship in the Gulf of Mexico. NASA/Screenshot by NPR hide caption
A bottle containing orange juice and rice cooking wine is set as a trap by Jenni Cena, pest biologist and trapping supervisor from the Washington State Department of Agriculture, in an effort to catch Asian giant hornets, also known as murder hornets. Karen Ducey/Getty Images hide caption
NASA astronauts (from left) Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley and Chris Cassidy are the U.S. members of the Expedition 63 crew aboard the International Space Station. Behnken and Hurley are scheduled to return to Earth on Aug. 2. NASA hide caption
Andrew Stuart wears a bandana as a mask while taking a selfie with his dog, Voltron, on Sunset Blvd, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in West Hollywood, Calif. Ashley Landis/AP hide caption
Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, holds a model of the coronavirus. This is the sixth vaccine candidate to join Operation Warp Speed's portfolio, and the largest vaccine deal to date. Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A man runs with his dog while at Brooklyn Bridge Park. If you're greeting other doggos, do it from a distance. Al Bello/Getty Images hide caption
A healthcare worker zips up a protective barrier in the Covid-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on July 2. Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A scientist is pictured working during a visit by Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (unseen), to Oxford Vaccine Group's laboratory facility at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, west of London on June 24, 2020, on his visit to learn more about the group's work to establish a viable vaccine against coronavirus COVID-19. STEVE PARSONS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Air pollution is a persistent problem in California's Central Valley. A new study finds that the places that were most polluted nearly 40 years ago generally remain the most polluted today. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption
On the left is an unmodified hatchling of a longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii). The one on the right was injected with CRISPR-Cas9 targeting a pigmentation gene before the first cell division. It has very few pigmented cells and lighter eyes. Karen Crawford hide caption
Lillian Kay Petersen, 17, from Los Alamos, N.M., won first place in the 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science and math competition for high school seniors. The pandemic meant a virtual Zoom ceremony rather than what's usually a black-tie gala ceremony in the nation's capital. Society for Science screenshot hide caption
Monarch butterflies, like this one in Temascaltepec, Mexico, use ultraviolet polarized light to help them navigate in flight. Omar Torres/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Sheep graze in front of southern England's Stonehenge in April. Scientists say they've determined some of the structure's sandstone megaliths came from 15 miles away. Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook are sworn-in before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Blood plasma — the yellowish, cell-free portion that remains after red and white blood cells have been filtered out by a machine and returned to the plasma donor — is rich with antibodies. Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients might prove useful in preventing infection as well as in treatment, scientists say. Lindsey Wasson/Reuters hide caption
A United Arab Emirates spacecraft rockets away on a seven-month journey to Mars. MHI via AP hide caption