# 129: Science Highlights Daily | 2018-12-16

This is a curated articles about the latest discoveries in science and interesting articles tackling technology and society.

The secret site in England where beavers control the landscape: Graham Lawton

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Two beavers were released at a secret location in Devon, UK in 2011. Now they've completely transformed the landscape including improving flood management in the area

Coal power emissions in the US are even higher than we thought: Michael Le Page

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The carbon emissions from lugging coal around can be much higher than thought - up to a third as much as is emitted when the stuff is burned

Breathing in moon dust could release toxins in astronauts’ lungs: Yvaine Ye

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We already knew that lunar dust is highly abrasive, but now it seems minerals in the dust can easily react with human cells and release large amount of toxins

Incredible shrinking 3D printer can make really tiny objects: Douglas Heaven

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A method for 3D printing minuscule objects produces them at a larger size and then shrinks them to one thousandth of the original volume

Can a Green New Deal boost the US economy and save the planet?:

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Politicians like the newly-elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are now taking climate change seriously, but even an ambitious plan to remake the economy may not be enough

Virgin Galactic claims its first successful flight to edge of space: Leah Crane

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Richard Branson's space tourism firm says it has finally made a flight to the edge of space - though the craft did not reach the currently accepted definition of 100 kilometres up

Bitcoin’s price is plummeting – will the cryptocurrency survive?: Douglas Heaven

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Bitcoin investors have had a rough ride this year as the price of the cryptocurrency has tumbled, making it less economical to produce the coins

There won’t be many more gene-edited babies just yet – here’s why: Michael Le Page

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The news of gene-edited twins is more likely to have a chilling effect on research into the technique used than to open the floodgates to millions more edited babies

Baboons live for months after getting genetically modified pig hearts: Chelsea Whyte

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Genetically modified pig hearts have kept baboons alive for more than 90 days, a threshold that may now allow trials of this type of transplantation in people

Let’s cheer workers at Google who are holding their bosses to account: Lilly Irani

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Staff at Google, Amazon and Microsoft are using walkouts, work slowdowns and refusals to build to hold the tech giants to their proclaimed ethics