Biomedicine & Disease
Blasting rodents with cell phone radiation increased cancer risk. Here’s why that means nothing for humans
Last week the National Toxicology Program (NTP) issued an update on the results of the largest animal experiment to assess ...
Why hyping ‘click-worthy’ autism research can do more harm than good
Click-worthy health and science headlines are an essential currency in today’s media world. When they pertain to autism, they might ...
Genetics and Type 2 diabetes: Why weight loss alone may not be enough for some people
People who develop Type 2 diabetes fall into one of two categories — those whose blood sugar can be controlled ...
Novel therapies to combat deadly superbugs caused by antibiotic overuse
The overuse and misuse of antibiotics are key factors behind the evolution of so-called superbugs, multiresistant bacteria that are growing ...
The stuff that ‘makes magic mushrooms so magic’ moves closer to FDA approval for treating depression
The active ingredient that makes magic mushrooms so magic—the psychedelic drug psilocybin—is one step closer to becoming a legal treatment for ...
Why you need to know about RNA therapy and its potential to revolutionize disease treatment
After a decade of painstaking progress, the underdog is on the brink of treating a broad range of diseases ...
Quick FDA approval of GMO human insulin 36 years ago contrasts with today’s biotechnology regulatory sclerosis
This week marked the 36th anniversary of one of biotechnology’s most significant milestones—the approval by the FDA of human insulin ...
‘In someone else’s shoes’: How virtual reality is altering autism research, treatment
For more than two decades, scientists have experimented with [virtual reality] to set up controlled scenarios to study autistic traits. At the ...
Some US towns were untouched by 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The military wants to know why.
[On 4 June 1919, the Spanish flu] had finally found its way to the remote native Inuit communities that dotted ...
Why being tall may increase your cancer risk
Taller people have a greater risk of cancer because they are bigger and so have more cells in their bodies ...
Inside a couple’s quest to pay for an experimental gene therapy to save their children
“We need your help, we really do,” Gary [Landsman] says, his voice breaking. The Landsmans’ two sons—Benny, then 18 months, ...
Chasing the virus behind surging polio-like illness
[Fall 2014] Kevin Messacar, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Colorado, started seeing a wave of children with inexplicable paralysis. All of ...
Seeking answers for sick babies through whole genome sequencing
When babies become intensely ill, it can be difficult to know what has gone wrong. But the answer, quite often, ...
Gene therapy for autism? Rare Angelman syndrome could answer key questions
[T]he success of genetic therapies [for autism] is not guaranteed. Even if disrupted genes can be replaced, repaired or otherwise ...
Why ending muscle wasting matters for curing cancer
Deterioration of muscle is the cause of death in many diseases, like cancer, but no treatments address this lethal symptom ...
Diagnosing rare infectious diseases with genetic sequencing
Early last spring, as flu season hit its peak, a woman checked into a Houston hospital with all the familiar ...
Cartoons offer ‘simple’ whimsical look at cancer immunotherapy through the eyes of scientists
Four years ago, I was hired for a new and terrific job: to help my colleagues at Solebury Trout and ...
Promising treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy developed with CRISPR gene editing
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a life-threatening muscle-wasting illness. Occurring mostly in males, it is the most common type of muscular ...
Mystery of the mind: How autism got its start in the developing brain
Here are some of the key points [neuroscientist Kevin] Pelphrey made on how autism may get its start in the ...
Can exercise lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s?
For the 50 million individuals worldwide ailing from Alzheimer’s disease, the announcements by pharmaceutical giants earlier this year that they will end ...
Why we may need a ‘Noah’s Ark’ of microbes to protect our health in the future
Preserving human microbiomes today, especially the more diverse ones from traditional peoples in developing nations, may provide treatments for diseases ...
Calls for a halt to heart stem cell trial based on controversial research
Days after Harvard Medical School said it found extensive falsified or fabricated data from the laboratory of a prominent heart researcher, ...
Exploring color blindness through human retinas grown in lab
A paper published October 11 in Science uses a retina grown outside the body to show how cones develop into the eyes’ color sensors ...
Failure of race-based medicine? We aren’t accounting for the unique genetics of biracial and multiracial populations
For several decades in modern medicine history, human race has been used as a constant variable to predict and/or determine ...
Why do siblings of children with autism also have social problems?
Even typical siblings of children with autism tend to struggle with anxiety, depression and social difficulties, according to a large ...
‘Body on a chip’ could revolutionize drug research, replace animal testing
Bringing a new drug to market takes roughly a decade and requires expensive and arduous testing on humans and animals. But a ...
Cancer and genetics: Why smoking threatens more than just your lungs
Cigarettes smoking causes lung, throat and larynx cancers–which makes sense because those tissues come directly into contact with smoke and ...
Breaking the body’s ‘sugar code’ could refine our ability to predict, treat diseases
Key elements of arthritis, cancer, food allergies and aging are trapped within glycans, types of sugar in the human body ...
