Biomedicine & Disease
Baby’s death spurs search for answers: Genetic testing, counseling offer insights, warnings for couple’s future
The effort to get genetic counseling where it needs to be is still an uphill battle ...
Brain implants may one day boost our abilities to text, drive, communicate and think
An injection of Silicon Valley chutzpah has energised the field of brain-computer or brain-machine interfaces in recent years. Buoyed by ...
Ticking time bomb: Being obese ‘more than doubles’ risk of common forms of cancer
Being overweight or obese has been linked to at least 13 types of cancer. Obesity more than doubles the risk ...
Examining toddlers’ brain waves may offer early diagnosis of autism
Certain patterns of electrical activity in the brain may signal autism in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a related genetic condition ...
Something new to worry about: Mosquito-borne brain-infecting EEE virus may be fueled by warming climate
Health officials in several states [have] reported more cases and deaths linked to the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus. The ...
World War I gave us our first personality test—to assess soldiers for risk of shell shock
Shell shock ultimately sent 15 percent of British soldiers home. Their symptoms included uncontrollable weeping, amnesia, tics, paralysis, nightmares, insomnia, heart ...
Probiotics as ‘living medicine’: Synthetic biology takes on gut diseases, metabolic syndromes
Engineered probiotics could relieve patients of metabolic diseases ...
A world without aches: First inklings of a drug that could eradicate chronic pain
After decades of research into the cellular basis of chronic pain, [pharmacologist Peter] McNaughton believes he has discovered the fundamentals ...
Could blood from babies’ umbilical cords rejuvenate our grandparents’ brains?
Protein in umbilical cord blood rejuvenates cells in the brain’s memory center, improving learning and memory in aging mice. Could ...
CRISPR could save the lives of sick children by tweaking the embryos of their siblings
[Tweaking an embryo’s DNA can] help save someone who is already alive. Take the case of Jessica and Keith, a ...
Can we treat Alzheimer’s by ‘seeding our guts’ with beneficial bateria?
In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine earlier this year, microbiologist Hemraj Dodiya of the University of Chicago and ...
‘We don’t have an answer yet’: Nearly 100 doctors have failed to diagnose man’s mystery illness
When [Bob] Schwartz, who battles insomnia, does manage to fall asleep, he wakes up every 90 minutes to urinate copiously ...
Chasing freedom from food allergies through controversial oral immunotherapy treatments
An idea based on a century-old concept could soon receive FDA approval. But will it cause more anxiety than relief? ...
Using CRISPR to improve accuracy of cancer-fighting drugs
Cancer drug developers may be missing their molecular targets—and never knowing it. Many recent drugs take aim at specific cell ...
Experimental blood tests for Alzheimer’s could boost research, treatment of the disease
Narrowing in on diagnostic biomarkers could make an illusive disease easier to catch early ...
Podcast: GMO insects loose in the wild? Inside scoop on controversial Oxitec mosquito in Brazil
The tiny mosquito is a nuisance in the industrialized world, yet in developing countries it is a ruthless killer, spreading ...
This ‘psychedelic’ treatment can cure opioid addition. It also might kill you
With proper treatment, withdrawing from opioids won’t kill you, but it can make you want to die. … The desperation ...
HPV vaccines are not just for women: Throat, mouth cancer rates rising for men
Earlier this year, the biotech community mourned the loss of Michael Becker, a former pharmaceutical industry executive. … Becker’s cancer was ...
Gene drives and other ‘out-of-the-box approaches’ can eradicate malaria by 2050, scientists say
“For too long, malaria eradication has been a distant dream, but now we have evidence that malaria can and should ...
Soot in the womb: Research suggests air pollution threatens developing babies
Breathing in polluted air may send soot far beyond a pregnant woman’s lungs, all the way to the womb surrounding ...
‘Virus really has no chance’: Protein-suppressing treatment could stop common cold in its tracks
A team at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, found one of the components which the viruses ...
‘Wearable sensors’ could provide early warning system for aggressive autism traits
In one corner of the classroom, rocking back and forth, sits Julio, 16. Julio was not always aggressive. He was ...
Uncovering cancer’s history: CRISPR turns cells into ‘molecular recorders’ to track cell changes
Cancer’s impenetrable secrets partly rely on its mysterious molecular history. As cells turn to the dark side, a whirlwind of ...
Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes spread their genes in the wild? Separating science from hype after controversial new study
Did the mosquito experiment go wrong? ...
Evolution, the human diet and the meat vs. plant conundrum
Evidence suggests our hominin ancestors turned to meat when climate change reduced resource-rich vegetation. The signatures of these changes may ...
Evolutionary quirk: Humans are defined by ‘singular vulnerability’ to heart attacks
There are many things that set us humans apart from other species: large brains, bipedalism, a predilection for puns. But ...
GMO mosquitoes produced hybrid offspring in the wild? New study says yes—but under fire from critics
A field experiment in Brazil that deployed genetically modified mosquitoes to control wild populations of the pest may be having ...
Biomedicine, vaccines and antibiotics dramatically better human lives, but critics raise specter of ‘dangerous viruses’ and bioterrorism
Although continued innovation will further improve people’s lives, it will also give rise to new threats. … True, better diagnostics, ...
