Human Quirks: Health & Medicine

September 20, 2024

Top Headlines

New Testing System Using Janus Particles Rapidly and Accurately Detects COVID-19

Sep. 20, 2024 — A research group has developed a new COVID-19 testing system using Janus particles -- microparticles with two sides possessing distinctive molecular properties. These particles are engineered to bind ...

First Academic Study on Slap Fighting Highlights Risks to Participants' Neurological Health

Sep. 18, 2024 — The first academic study to provide quantitative assessment of the possible dangers of competitive slap fighting offers a starting point for conversations about ensuring participants' long-term ...

Homemade 'Play-Putty' Can Read the Body's Electric Signals

Sep. 18, 2024 — Researchers demonstrates the effectiveness of homemade play putty at reading brain, heart, muscle and eye activity. The research outlines the conductive properties of this material, so-named 'squishy ...

Research Reveals Reality of Ice Age Teen Puberty

Sep. 12, 2024 — Landmark new research shows Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day ...

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Cow Slime Can Help Disc Herniation Patients After Surgery, Research Shows

Sep. 16, 2024 — Researchers have developed a gel inspired by cow slime for patients suffering from disc herniation. By adding the mucin gel immediately after surgery, it is possible to create a protective barrier ...

Self-Medicating Gorillas and Traditional Healers Provide Clues for New Drug Discovery

Sep. 11, 2024 — Four plants consumed by wild gorillas in Gabon and used by local communities in traditional medicine show antibacterial and antioxidant properties, ...

Scientists Expand the Genetic Alphabet to Create New Proteins

Sep. 11, 2024 — It's a dogma taught in every introductory biology class: Proteins are composed of combinations of 20 different amino acids, arranged into diverse sequences like words. But researchers trying to ...

New AI Can ID Brain Patterns Related to Specific Behavior

Sep. 9, 2024 — Scientists have developed a new AI algorithm that can separate brain patterns related to a particular behavior. This work promises to improve brain-computer interfaces and aid with the discovery of ...

How Fish Guts Might Play a Role in Future Skin Care Products

Sep. 5, 2024 — There are some pretty strange ingredients in cosmetics and skin care products. One example is snail mucin -- also known as snail slime -- which is used for its moisturizing and antioxidant ...

How Beetle Juice Led to the Discovery of a Virus and Solved the Mystery of a Superworm Die-Off

Aug. 28, 2024 — Scientists have discovered a virus that caused a nationwide die-off of superworms, a common food for birds, reptiles, other pets and, more and more ...

Researchers Map 50,000 of DNA's Mysterious 'Knots' in the Human Genome

Aug. 29, 2024 — Innovative study of DNA's hidden structures may open up new approaches for treatment and diagnosis of diseases, including ...

Bats Are Surviving and Thriving on Nothing but Sugar

Aug. 28, 2024 — New research may enable potential solutions to metabolic disease by turning to evolution and to bats. 'Our study reports blood sugar levels that are the highest we have ever seen in nature -- what ...

How to Catch a Criminal Using Their 'Skin Shedder' Profile

Aug. 22, 2024 — A pioneering new DNA forensics technique is looking for a reliable method to measure a suspect's individual level of natural shedding of skin and other cells to add to, and compare with, evidence ...

Alzheimer's Drug May Someday Help Save Lives by Inducing a State of 'Suspended Animation'

Aug. 22, 2024 — Researchers have found that an Alzheimer's drug, donepezil, can induce a safe and reversible torpor-like state in tadpoles of the Xenopus laevis ...

Mitochondria Are Flinging Their DNA Into Our Brain Cells

Aug. 22, 2024 — A new study finds that mitochondria in our brain cells frequently fling their DNA into the cells' nucleus, where the mitochondrial DNA integrates into chromosomes, possibly causing ...

Deadly Sea Snail Toxin Could Be Key to Making Better Medicines

Aug. 20, 2024 — Scientists are finding clues for how to treat diabetes and hormone disorders in an unexpected place: a toxin from one of the most venomous animals on the ...

Evidence Stacks Up for Poisonous Books Containing Toxic Dyes

Aug. 19, 2024 — Some of the attractive hues of brightly colored, cloth-bound books from the Victorian era come from dyes that could pose a health risk to readers, collectors or librarians. The latest research on ...

Engineers Design Tiny Batteries for Powering Cell-Sized Robots

Aug. 16, 2024 — A zinc-air microbattery could enable the deployment of cell-sized, autonomous robots for drug delivery within in the human body, as well as other applications such as locating leaks in gas ...

Cleaning Up the Aging Brain: Scientists Restore Brain's Trash Disposal System

Aug. 15, 2024 — Scientists have restored the brain's waste-clearing process in aging mice, offering potential new treatment for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's using existing ...

Surprise Finding in Study of Environmental Bacteria Could Advance Search for Better Antibiotics

Aug. 15, 2024 — Researchers studying bacteria from freshwater lakes and soil say they have determined a protein's essential role in maintaining the germ's shape. Because the integrity of a bacterial ...

Smart Fabric Converts Body Heat Into Electricity

Aug. 14, 2024 — Researchers have developed a smart fabric that can convert body heat and solar energy into electricity, potentially enabling continuous operation with no need for an external power source. Different ...

How Air-Powered Computers Can Prevent Blood Clots

Aug. 14, 2024 — A new, air-powered computer sets off alarms when certain medical devices fail. The invention is a more reliable and lower-cost way to help prevent blood clots and strokes -- all without electronic ...

Say 'Aah' and Get a Diagnosis on the Spot: Is This the Future of Health?

Aug. 13, 2024 — A computer algorithm has achieved a 98% accuracy in predicting different diseases by analyzing the color of the human tongue. The proposed imaging system can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anemia, ...

3D-Printed Blood Vessels Bring Artificial Organs Closer to Reality

Aug. 7, 2024 — Lab-grown organs are a long-time 'holy grail' of organ engineering that has yet to be achieved, but new research has brought that goal a big step closer to reality using a new 3D-printing ...

Soft Gold Enables Connections Between Nerves and Electronics

Aug. 6, 2024 — Gold does not readily lend itself to being turned into long, thin threads. But researchers have now managed to create gold nanowires and develop soft electrodes that can be connected to the nervous ...

Smallest Arm Bone in Human Fossil Record Sheds Light on the Dawn of Homo Floresiensis

Aug. 6, 2024 — A new study reports the discovery of extremely rare early human fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores, including an astonishingly small adult limb bone. Dated to about 700,000 years old, the ...

When It Comes to DNA Replication, Humans and Baker's Yeast Are More Alike Than Different

Aug. 1, 2024 — Humans and baker's yeast have more in common than meets the eye, including an important mechanism that helps ensure DNA is copied correctly, reports a pair of studies. The findings visualize for ...

Key to Rapid Planet Formation

Aug. 1, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new model to explain the formation of giant planets such as Jupiter, which furnishes deeper insights into the processes of planet formation and could expand our ...

Artificial Blood Vessels Could Improve Heart Bypass Outcomes

July 25, 2024 — 3D-printed blood vessels, which closely mimic the properties of human veins, could transform the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Strong, flexible, gel-like tubes -- created using a novel 3D ...

In Clinical Trial, Fecal Matter Transplant Helped Half of Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancers Overcome Resistance to Immunotherapy Treatment

July 25, 2024 — Findings from a small, proof-of-concept clinical trial have suggested that fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) can boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy in a range of gastrointestinal cancers. In ...

Expiring Medications Could Pose Challenge on Long Space Missions

July 23, 2024 — A new study shows that over half of the medicines stocked in space -- staples such as pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids -- would expire before astronauts could return to ...

Controlling Mosquito Populations Through Genetic Breeding

July 22, 2024 — Researchers have found a new way to identify genetic targets useful for control of mosquito populations, potentially offering an alternative to insecticides. Their study focused on the genetic basis ...

Singing the Science: Using Karaoke to Examine Blushing

July 17, 2024 — A new collaboration explores the neural substrates of blushing in a MRI ...

What Fat Cats on a Diet May Tell Us About Obesity in Humans

July 17, 2024 — Pet cats may be excellent animal models for the study of obesity origins and treatment in humans, a new study of feline gut microbes suggests -- and both species would likely get healthier in the ...