Health
What actually happens in your brain when you change your mind?
Credit: Google DeepMind from Pexels Imagine a game show where the host asks the contestant to randomly pick one option out of three: A, B or C. After the contestant chooses, say, option B, the host reveals one of the remaining choices (say C) does not contain the prize. In the final step, the contestant […]
Common allergy spray slashes COVID-19 risk in surprising trial
The trial, led by Professor Robert Bals, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine V at Saarland University Medical Center and Professor of Internal Medicine at Saarland University, divided the 450 participants into two groups. The treatment group of 227 individuals used an azelastine nasal spray three times a day over a 56-day period. During […]
Scientists just made CRISPR three times more effective
CRISPR gene-editing machinery could transform medicine but is difficult to get into tissues and disease-relevant cells New delivery system loads CRISPR machinery inside spherical nucleic acid (SNA) nanoparticles Particles entered cells three times more effectively, tripled gene-editing efficiency, and decreased toxicity compared to current delivery methods With the power to rewrite the genetic code underlying […]
In the dark for 11 million years: How blind cavefish rewrote evolution
Small, colorless, and blind, amblyopsid cavefishes inhabit subterranean waters throughout the eastern United States. In a new study, Yale researchers reveal insights into just how these distinctive cave dwellers evolved — and provide a unique method for dating the underground ecosystems where they reside. In an analysis of the genomes of all known amblyopsid species, […]
Ancient DNA finally solves the mystery of the world’s first pandemic
For the first time, researchers have uncovered direct genomic evidence of the bacterium behind the Plague of Justinian — the world’s first recorded pandemic — in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the outbreak was first described nearly 1,500 years ago. The landmark discovery, led by an interdisciplinary team at the University of South Florida and Florida […]
Why ultra-processed diets make you gain fat even without extra calories
Over the past 50 years, rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes have soared, while sperm quality has plummeted. Driving these changes could be the increasing popularity of ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to a range of poor health outcomes. However, scientists still aren’t sure whether it’s the industrial nature of the ingredients themselves, the […]
Cells “vomit” waste in a hidden healing shortcut that could also fuel cancer
When injured, cells have well-regulated responses to promote healing. These include a long-studied self-destruction process that cleans up dead and damaged cells as well as a more recently identified phenomenon that helps older cells revert to what appears to be a younger state to help grow back healthy tissue. Now, a new study in mice […]
New AI model predicts which genetic mutations truly drive disease
When genetic testing reveals a rare DNA mutation, doctors and patients are frequently left in the dark about what it actually means. Now, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a powerful new way to determine whether a patient with a mutation is likely to actually develop disease, a concept […]
Beet juice secretly helps older adults lower blood pressure in just two weeks
The blood pressure lowering effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice in older people may be due to specific changes in their oral microbiome, according to the largest study of its kind. Researchers at the University of Exeter conducted the study, published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, comparing responses between a group of older […]
Exercise may actually reverse your body’s aging clock
A new research perspective was recently published in Aging, titled “Exercise as a geroprotector: focusing on epigenetic aging.” In this perspective, led by Takuji Kawamura from Tohoku University, researchers reviewed existing evidence from scientific studies showing that regular exercise, physical activity, and fitness may influence epigenetic aging and potentially reverse it, offering a promising way […]