Robot

When a person views a familiar image, even having seen it just once before for a few seconds, something unique happens in the human brain. Until recently, neuroscientists believed that vigorous activity in a visual part of the brain called the inferotemporal (IT) cortex meant the person was looking at […]

Traits that allow cancer cells to escape the body’s natural defence system and develop into tumours are actually a good indicator to a patient’s survival prognosis, according to University of Queensland researchers. UQ Diamantina Institute researcher Dr Janin Chandra described the discovery as a “catch-22 situation” and good news for patients with either […]

The heart damage seen in many severely ill COVID-19 patients results in part from infection-activated immune cells called macrophages, which infiltrate the heart and secrete cell-damaging chemicals, according to a study co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai and Columbia University Irving […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have found links between certain blood groups and a total of 49 diseases, including a new finding that having blood group B seems to be a protective factor against kidney stones. The study, which includes data on more than five million people and over 1,000 diseases, […]

Millions of people face the loss of their eyesight from degenerative eye diseases. The genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa alone affects 1 in 4,000 people worldwide. Today, there is technology available to offer partial eyesight to people with that syndrome. Argus II, the world's first retinal prosthesis, reproduces some functions of […]

Obesity is associated with an increased risk for a broad spectrum of tumors, including colon cancer. And once cancer develops, statistics show that overweight or obese individuals are at higher risk of cancer recurrence and have a decreased chance of survival. The underlying mechanisms for this are unclear. One of […]

The human papillomavirus is fueling an epidemic of head and neck cancer globally, with 100,000 new cases worldwide each year. A new study suggests Taiwan may be in the same spot the United States was a few decades ago when this trend first emerged. But in Taiwan, HPV’s impact is obscured […]

Researchers at Penn Medicine uncover more genetic mutations that predispose women to peripartum cardiomyopathy, with implications for the future of increased genetic testing. Researchers at Penn Medicine have identified more genetic mutations that strongly predispose younger, otherwise healthy women to peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a rare condition characterized by weakness of […]

One of the biggest challenges in Alzheimer’s research is to identify biomarkers that can determine who is at risk of developing dementia. Such biomarkers could be used to screen people so they might be helped before they develop dementia. Researchers have focused primarily on three such biomarkers. Two are Alzheimer’s-related proteins, amyloid and […]

Researchers here show that increased levels of cap-independent translation (CIT) of messenger RNA (mRNA) take place in a diverse set of interventions known to modestly slow aging in mice, suggesting it to be a common phenomenon in these shifts of metabolism towards a slower pace of aging. CIT is a […]

If you’ve ever experienced shift work, you know it can be extremely taxing on your overall wellbeing. On the other hand, in some places it is simply unavoidable – you have to keep some factories and healthcare institutions running. Now scientists at the University of Waterloo found that irregular work […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that a calorie labelled is not the same as a calorie digested and absorbed when the food source is almonds. The findings, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, should help alleviate concerns that almonds contribute to weight gain, which persist despite the widely […]

Imagine you’re walking your dog down the street when you see someone ahead of you collapse. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, you’d rush to their side, check to see if they are breathing, feel for a heartbeat. Unable to detect either, you’d begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with chest compressions […]

For reasons not yet clear, pregnant women infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 are more likely to experience preterm births, pre-eclampsia, and other neonatal problems than non-infected women. A team of Yale scientists decided to investigate whether the virus could be affecting the placental tissue of infected expectant mothers. […]

Fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine—these substances are familiar to many as a source of both pain relief and the cause of a painful epidemic of addiction and death. Scientists have attempted for years to balance the potent pain-relieving properties of opioids with their numerous negative side effects—with mostly mixed results. Work by John […]

Researchers have identified the mechanisms of scar formation in skin and demonstrated in mice a way to make wounds heal with normal skin instead of scar tissue. A simple question from a mentor — Why do we scar after an injury or surgical incision? — set Michael Longaker, MD, on a […]

Resolving a missing link of research, Canadian researchers find significant microbiome changes in crew who spent 520 days in isolation to simulate a mission to Mars Crew members who took part in the Mars500 experiment showed significant changes in their gut microbiota from their 520 days in confinement, according to […]

CRISPR’s potential to prevent or treat disease is widely recognized. But the gene-editing technology can also be used as a research tool to probe and understand diseases. That’s the basic insight behind KSQ Therapeutics. The company uses CRISPR to alter genes across millions of cells. By observing the effect of […]

Although haemorrhoids are a common health problem, relatively little is known about the field, possibly because many people find them difficult to talk about. Researchers linked to Karolinska Institutet have been involved in a study that has analysed the genomes of almost a million people and found previously unknown causes […]

A novel drug almost entirely cleared moderate to severe psoriasis in over 60% of the patients who took part in two-phase three clinical trials of a new drug. The University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust led studies on Bimekizumab, both published in the prestigious New England Journal […]

The ability to cryopreserve and thaw organs via vitrification, without ice formation and significant tissue damage, allowing for indefinite storage time, would go a long way towards simplifying the logistics and reducing the costs of present organ donation and future tissue engineering of organs for transplantation. Cryopreservation via vitrification also […]

A new study by an international team of scientists, published on 22 April in the journal Science, has found that, in terms of genetic mutations, children whose parents were exposed to harmful contaminants during the Chernobyl accident, which took place in Ukraine in 1986, are no different from the general […]

It’s common knowledge that our surroundings affect our health — decades of research have linked things like air, water and soil quality to various measures of physical well-being. But much less is known about how the environment changes our brain. Now, a research team at the Keck School of Medicine […]

New research shows how drinking sugary beverages early in life may lead to impaired memory in adulthood. The study, published in Translational Psychiatry, also is the first to show how a specific change to the gut microbiome — the bacteria and other microorganisms growing in the stomach and intestines — can […]

If you feel your brain power diminishing as you advance into middle age and beyond, blame your neural stem cells. In a study published in Cell Stem Cell, a team led by USC Stem Cell scientist Michael Bonaguidi demonstrates that neural stem cells—the stem cells of the nervous system—age rapidly. “There is chronological […]

A new ERC project aims to improve our understanding of enzyme stability and broaden the field of potential applications for biocatalysis. Professor John Woodley from DTU Chemical Engineering has received an Advanced Grant from ERC, the European Research Council. The grant of EUR 2.4 M will for the next five […]

There are millions of people who face the loss of their eyesight from degenerative eye diseases. The genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa alone affects 1 in 4,000 people worldwide. Today, there is technology available to offer partial eyesight to people with that syndrome. The Argus II, the world’s first retinal prosthesis, […]

Real-world evidence is suggesting, for the first time, the most beneficial treatment courses that could help extend the lives of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, according to research from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In a new study published online in JAMA Oncology, researchers show that […]

Many approaches shown to slow aging in animal studies involve an increased efficiency of cell maintenance processes such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system and various types of autophagy. Here researchers discuss the improvement of autophagy in order to slow the age-related decline of mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are the power plants of […]

COVID-19 is not the first viral epidemic and it is not going to be the last one either. Humans have always dealt with such issues, but in the future they may become increasingly more common. One reliable way to make your body more resilient to such threats is regular physical […]