Biomedicine & Disease
Podcast: Pollution makes you fat? India approves more GMOs; Biological ‘push notifications’
Air pollution harms our health in many ways; does it also encourage obesity? Farmers in India have access to two ...
Can food treat cancer? There’s no ‘miracle cure’, but healthy diets are major factor in reducing risk
It was several months into her treatment for breast cancer that my mom began researching “miracle foods.” So we went on ...
Viewpoint: Human insulin saga: Anomalous, successful 40-year history of the first genetically-modified medicine underscores how regulators can scuttle innovation
October 29th marks the 40th anniversary of one of biotechnology’s most significant milestones — the approval by the FDA of ...
Kaftrio miracle: How a new suite of genetically-tuned drugs are challenging cystic fibrosis – and opening door for victims to have children
Today, the full DNA map is commonly used in developing new drugs and other healthcare solutions. Genetic sequencing has become ...
COVID booster uptake is at an all-time low. This shot campaign could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars
Boosters are a necessary part of COVID-19 mitigation because vaccine-induced and natural protection against disease have been shown to be transient ...
‘If you want to stop the condition, you need to regrow brain cells’: Inside the ‘hugely complex’ fight against Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s was first described in medical texts more than 200 years ago, yet there is still no cure. It’s a ...
‘Sending a Trojan horse into cancer cells’ Can this genetically-engineered bacteria stop tumors in their tracks?
Scientists know cancers have an uncanny ability to travel through the body by slipping in and out of blood vessels ...
Viewpoint: Why I voted ‘no’ on the recently-approved ALS drug Relyvrio
Unsubstantiated claims of efficacy have impeded therapeutics development for other diseases too. Over 30 years ago, the parents of a ...
How might COVID evolve this fall? Here are 3 possible scenarios, and none is great
As the United States enters a third fall with COVID-19, the virus for many is seemingly gone — or at ...
Viewpoint: Lecanemab — Will this ‘promising’ new Alzheimer’s drug deliver on the hype?
You may have heard: AN ALZHEIMER’S DRUG ACTUALLY HAD A POSITIVE TRIAL!!! The news on Biogen/Eisai’s lecanemab was “exciting,” “shocking,” ...
A cancer vaccine to protect healthy but high risk people? Researchers ‘brimming with optimism’ in preventative shot
It seems like an almost impossible dream — a cancer vaccine that would protect healthy people at high risk of ...
AI-powered speech-analyzing app could diagnose Parkinson’s, stroke, depression or cancer from just the sound of your voice
Voices offer lots of information. Turns out, they can even help diagnose an illness — and researchers are working on ...
Gene therapy approvals now at four with treatments for inherited anemia and degenerative brain condition — but costs are stratospheric. Why?
The FDA recently approved two gene therapies with hefty price tags, the first for an inherited anemia and the second ...
Hate brushing your hair? You may have ‘uncombable hair syndrome’ — a rare genetic disease
Uncombable hair syndrome is more than just difficult hair. As its name suggests, it's hair that sticks out at all ...
How the coronavirus pandemic flipped uber-liberal Marin County from vaccine rejectionist hub to shaming COVID vaccine skeptics
In the pandemic age, getting a Covid-19 shot has become the defining “vax” or “anti-vax” litmus test, and on that ...
How safe are the new COVID vaccine boosters?
In case you haven’t heard, there’s now a new set of vaccine booster shots that protect against the latest variant ...
Why do some people suffer mild COVID while it debilitates others? Gene variant plays decisive role
It may be the most baffling quirk of COVID: What manifests as minor, flu-like symptoms in some individuals spirals into ...
CRISPR co-creator Emmanuelle Charpentier: ‘Studying microbes can solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity, including how our metabolisms and brains work’
In early September, CRISPR co-creator Emmanuelle Charpentier traveled to Yerevan, Armenia to be one of the main speakers at the ...
Podcast: CRISPR Cas13 gene editing; Eye transplants; Sex might drive our athletic and artistic ability
A new gene-editing technique may be safer and more reliable than CRISPR-Cas9, according to a recent study ...
Why hasn’t monkeypox turned into a COVID-like global health crisis?
When you’ve lived through two-plus years of a pandemic, it can feel weird to see “disease” and “good news” in ...
Differentiating between COVID misinformation and evolving science
With the announcement by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, that “The CDC has to ...
The chemistry of vision: Reviving eyes from organ donors offers hope for blindness cures
Researchers have discovered a way to revive eyes from organ donors after death, an advance that opens doors to progress ...
Could there ever be a vaccine for breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer, about 10% of all breast cancers, is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of this ...
ACL tear? One of athletes’ greatest fears can be repaired – without surgery but with biologics
Treatment for a torn ACL typically involves surgically reconstructing the ligament with harvested tissue. Moving beyond reconstruction toward restoration, or ...
Why are women more likely to develop chronic kidney disease yet men experience more kidney failures?
It's well-documented that women are more likely to develop chronic kidney disease, but that men are more likely to develop ...
Is long COVID likely to be progressive or permanent?
Covid is biologically dangerous long after the initial viral infection. One of the leading hypotheses behind long covid is that ...
Long COVID complications spark quest to better understand long-term consequences of other viruses
Several months into the pandemic, a new aspect of COVID-19 started gaining attention from scientists, journalists, and health-care professionals. Instead ...