Knowable
We have the tools to develop genetics-based personalized medicine, but the data used is outdated and lacks diversity
Bias in medical studies towards men of European origin means genetic variants in understudied populations don’t get the focus they ...
‘Like turning a golf ball into string’: Making meat substitutes is not easy
If you’re an environmentally aware meat-eater, you probably carry at least a little guilt to the dinner table. The meat ...
Prolonged grief disorder: 5-15% of bereaved people experience chronic mourning. What does that mean and how might it impact your health?
Every human being will experience grief at some point in their lives — it’s a fundamental human experience. “I think ...
Is your aging dog showing signs of forgetfulness? New insights on how canine brains age
Hana aced her memory test. After viewing the contents of three identical boxes arrayed in an arc on the back ...
Why the new malaria vaccine is just a first step in fighting this deadly scourge
With the Covid pandemic now in its third year, it is perhaps hard for the media and the public to ...
Humans sleep away ⅓ of their lives, but it’s a lot less than other primates. Here’s why
Research has shown that people in non-industrial societies — the closest thing to the kind of setting our species evolved ...
Male and female brains are different in key ways — and that could explain sex disparities in incidences of autism and Alzheimer’s
Scientists have long had of evidence linking immune activity to brain differences and disorders, but the science that sex adds ...
Alternative and natural medicine quackery is on the rise. Here’s why the placebo effect is part of the problem
For several decades now, many scientists, including me, have been working hard to reveal the full power and scope of ...
Eating disorders: How advances in genetics and psychology are informing new treatments
In 2017, Hennie Thomson checked herself into a hospital for six weeks of in-patient treatment for anorexia nervosa. She was ...
‘Young blood’: Here’s how a plasma infusion could ward off bone brittleness, increase lifespan and reverse aspects of aging
[I]n the past two decades, the idea of blood as an elixir of youth has leapt from the pages of ...
An effective test to diagnose onset of Alzheimer’s
The slow-burning fuse of Alzheimer’s creates a terrible predicament for doctors, patients and the scientists working to develop therapies: Once ...
Origins of life: We are getting closer to recreating the bubbling primordial soup
At 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius), the vents are a bit hot for a bubble bath but, it turns ...
Capturing ‘nuance’: Studying single cells—rather than millions—is changing our understanding of biology
There are roughly 37 trillion cells in the human body, and each keeps us alive in some small way. There ...
Why girls with ADHD aren’t being diagnosed
Anxiety. Depression. School failure. Self-harm. Unemployment. Unplanned pregnancies. Even an increased risk of early death. The risks and toll of ...
Video: What does it mean to ‘turn on’ a gene?
In the murky darkness, blue and green blobs are dancing. Sometimes they keep decorous distances from each other, but other ...
Speaking a second language could help your aging brain
[D]oes mastering a second language hone our multitasking skills or merely muddle us up? … In the Annual Review of Linguistics, ...
More than a brain relay station: Thalamus could be key to higher level thinking
Scientists have known for decades that the thalamus faithfully transmits information about the visual world from the retina to the ...
Harnessing the body’s electrical system to help it heal
Scientists like Michael Levin of Tufts University have discovered that cellular charges control how and where a structure forms in ...