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According to a group of biologists, the use of a gene editing technique that might alter human DNA across generations should be banned. According to researchers, there is a possibility that the technique can be used to heal genetic diseases and defects.

The new technique might also be used to improve human genetic traits that raised serious ethical concerns. The biologists fear that the technique might lead to unsafe or unethical uses. A letter has been published by Baltimore and 17 other scientists to the scientific community asking caution in using the technique.

Scientists have long wondered why some mushrooms glow in the dark? Now, they have found the reason. In a new study, researchers included 'flor de coco' mushroom, which could be found in the Brazilian coconut forests. The researchers discovered that the mushroom's light attracts the creatures like insects. The attracted insects spread the fungi's spores around the forest, which further leads to more glowing mushrooms in the forest.

Cassius Stevani, a biochemist at the Instituto de Quimica-Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil, said that the new study is very important as scientists were trying to figure out why mushroom glows at night.

The vernal equinox, first day of spring 2015 on Friday was celebrated by Google with a stop-motion animation doodle in the US.

The doodle displayed flowers coming into bloom and a bee collecting pollen from a daffodil. The term 'equinox' is derived from the Latin for equal ('aequus') and night ('nox').

The vernal equinox is the time of year when day and night are of equal duration. It marks the in-between point of the year's shortest and longest days.

Equinox acts more like a label in order to separate the point of Earth's revolution around the sun in which there is more daylight than darkness. Sping equinox happens on March 19, 20 or 21 every year, which marks the first day of spring for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

A 49 year-old woman was found guilty by an Alabama jury Friday for capital murder. Joyce Garrard could face death penalty or life sentence without bail for death of her 9-year-old granddaughter Savannah Hardin.

According to authorities, Garrard forced Savannah to run and carry wood for hours as punishment for a lie about candy. The grandchild collapsed and died after three days in a hospital. Although the defense denied that the woman meant no harm to her grandchild, the claim was rejected by the jurors.

However, Garrard had testified that she would 'die' before hurting her grandchild. She said that she only made the girl to pick up sticks in her yard as punishment on the day of her collapse.

Oregon's crime victim notification system faced a major technical glitch, which led to many false notices on Friday evening. The false notices were about the release of inmates and one of them was of a notorious killer.

At 5.30 pm on Friday, the notifications started coming from the Oregon VINE Service (Victim Information Notification Everyday).

Corrections spokeswoman Betty Bernt said that inmate Ward Weaver III was the subject of wrong alert. He was held in the case of aggravated murder in 2004, but he remains locked up. The spokeswoman affirmed that there were around 8,000 erroneous notifications that inmates were being released.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday has declared that the genetically engineered non-browning apples and bruise-resistant potatoes are as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture has approved the apples and potatoes for commercial planting. This department looks mainly at whether the crops would pose a threat to other plants and the FDA review looks at food safety.

The specialty of the so-called Arctic apples, which are developed by British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, is that they don't turn brown when sliced or bruised, which could result into less wastage of fruit and would make sliced apples more appealing.