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 A new interdisciplinary research and education center at the University of California, Irvine will apply the power of mathematics to some of the more vexing mysteries in cell biology. The MathBioSys Center on Multiscale Cell Fate is being initiated with $10 million in funding, half from the National Science Foundation […]

The brain's ability to form new neural connections, called neuroplasticity, is crucial to recovery from some types of brain injury, but this process is hard to study and remains poorly understood. A new study of neural circuit repair in the retina shows that neurons can make new connections to the […]

Mammals have bipartite blood circulation, i.e. pulmonary and systemic circulation. The heart is also divided: each circulatory system has an atrium and a ventricle, with the left and right halves of the heart differing in form and function. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in […]

Glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumor, is one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers. Only a handful of drugs are approved to treat glioblastoma, and the median life expectancy for patients diagnosed with the disease is less than 15 months. MIT researchers have now devised a new drug-delivering nanoparticle that […]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Beta-amyloid peptides, protein fragments that form naturally in the brain and clump into plaques in Alzheimer’s disease patients, are thought to be responsible for neuron death, but it hasn’t been clear how the substances kill cells. Now, a Purdue University scientist has shown through computer simulations […]

Recovery after severe spinal cord injury is notoriously fraught, with permanent paralysis often the result. In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned to stem cell-based therapies as a potential method for repairing and replacing damaged nerve cells. They have struggled, however, to overcome numerous innate barriers, including myelin, a mixture […]

Cranking up your headphones or scrambling for a front-row spot at rock shows could be damaging more than your hearing. New research from The Ohio State University has found that young people with subtle hearing loss – the kind they aren’t even aware of – are putting demands on their […]

Researchers have identified a compound that blocks the spread of pancreatic and other cancers in various animal models. When cancer spreads from one part of the body to another in a process called metastasis, it can eventually grow beyond the reach of effective therapies. Now, there is a new plan […]

A review of the most comprehensive body of evidence on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) — the most common type of childhood cancer – conducted by Professor Mel Greaves from the Institute of Cancer Research in London (ICR) indicates the disease is likely caused by genetic mutation coupled with exposure to […]

Boy or girl? For those who want to influence their baby’s sex, superstition and folk wisdom offer no shortage of advice whose effectiveness is questionable at best — from what to eat to when to make love. But some animals have a technique backed by scientific proof:  In turtles and […]

One in 50,000 Canadian men suffer from a rare genetic disorder that results in progressive vision loss that robs them of their sight by the age of 40. There is no cure, but an extraordinarily expensive, unproven gene therapy is emerging that holds the promise of at least delaying the […]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University researchers have developed a minimally invasive technique that may help doctors better explore and treat cancerous cells, tissues and tumors without affecting nearby healthy cells. The method, called PLASMAT – Plasma Technologies for a Healthier Tomorrow – combines three emerging techniques that appear promising in the […]