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Magazine
In the Feb. 16 SN: Robots roll into the classroom, brain zaps for severe depression, particle colliders of the future, how to walk like a tetrapod, sleepless nights boost Alzheimer's proteins and more.
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Editor's Note
Brain discoveries open doors to new treatments
For centuries, scientists have strived to figure out the workings of the human brain, but that blob of matter tucked inside a bony shell long resisted efforts to divine its secrets.02/10/2019 - 07:00 Neuroscience, Mental Health, BiomedicineTechniques invented in the early 1900s, including angiography and electroencephalography, made it possible to examine some characteristics of the brain without invading the skull. But it wasn’t until the...
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Feature
Brain-zapping implants that fight depression are inching closer to reality
02/10/2019 - 06:00 Mental Health, Clinical Trials, BiomedicineLike seismic sensors planted in quiet ground, hundreds of tiny electrodes rested in the outer layer of the 44-year-old woman’s brain. These sensors, each slightly larger than a sesame seed, had been implanted under her skull to listen for the first rumblings of epileptic seizures.
The electrodes gave researchers unprecedented access to the patient’s brain. With the woman’s permission,...
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News
A new implant uses light to control overactive bladders
01/02/2019 - 13:00 Biomedicine, TechnologyA new soft, wireless implant may someday help people who suffer from overactive bladder get through the day with fewer bathroom breaks.
The implant harnesses a technique for controlling cells with light, known as optogenetics, to regulate nerve cells in the bladder. In experiments in rats with medication-induced overactive bladders, the device alleviated animals’ frequent need to pee,...
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News
Tumor ‘organoids’ may speed cancer treatment
12/17/2018 - 12:00 Cancer, Biomedicine, CellsSAN DIEGO — Collecting cancer cells from patients and growing them into 3-D mini tumors could make it possible to quickly screen large numbers of potential drugs for ultra-rare cancers. Preliminary success with a new high-speed, high-volume approach is already guiding treatment decisions for some patients with recurring hard-to-treat cancers.
“Believe it or not, for some rare cancers...
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News
Baboons survive 6 months after getting a pig heart transplant
12/05/2018 - 13:08 BiomedicineFor roughly six months, fully functioning pig hearts beat inside the chests of two Anubis baboons. Genetic modifications to the pig hearts along with a new transplant technique are credited with the longest-yet survival after such a transplant, researchers report December 5 in Nature. Previously, the longest a baboon lived after such a procedure was 57 days.
Another two baboons in the...
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News
A patch studded with tiny needles may help heart attack survivors recover
11/28/2018 - 14:03 Biomedicine, Cells, Health, TechnologyA new type of implantable bandage could help mend broken hearts.
Each bandage is a thin film that oozes a cocktail of molecules to heal tissue damaged during a heart attack. In experiments with rats and pigs, these patches helped minimize scarring and preserve the heart’s ability to pump blood, researchers report online November 28 in Science Advances. Such devices could someday curb...
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News
Artificial intelligence crowdsources data to speed up drug discovery
10/18/2018 - 14:00 Artificial Intelligence, Biomedicine, TechnologyA new cryptographic system could allow pharmaceutical companies and academic labs to work together to develop new medications more quickly — without revealing any confidential data to their competitors.
The centerpiece of this computing system is an artificial intelligence program known as a neural network. The AI studies information about which drugs interact with various proteins in...
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Letters to the Editor
Readers wonder about a hydrogen wall, pig lung transplants and more
Wonderwall10/17/2018 - 07:15 Astronomy, Biomedicine, GeneticsAn ultraviolet glow spotted by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft may signal a hydrogen wall that separates the solar system from the rest of the Milky Way galaxy, Lisa Grossman reported in “New Horizons may have seen a glow at the solar system’s edge” (SN: 9/15/18, p. 10).
Online reader RayRay wondered if researchers could see similar walls at the edges of other solar...
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Feature
Lisa Manning describes the physics of how cells move
Lisa Manning, 38Physics and biologySyracuse University09/26/2018 - 08:30 Biomedicine, Cells, Development, PhysicsThink of tissues as mosh pits of cells. The cells may not be able to crowd surf, but they can jam.
Specifically, cells can undergo a jamming transition, a physical role change that was previously known to occur only among foams, sand and other nonliving materials. It’s one of the ways that physicist Lisa Manning has shown how...
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News
A new antibiotic uses sneaky tactics to kill drug-resistant superbugs
09/12/2018 - 13:00 Chemistry, Biomedicine, HealthDrug-resistant bacteria have a new challenger.
A new molecule can kill deadly strains of common bacteria, such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, that are resistant to most existing antibiotics. The drug works differently from currently available antibiotics, potentially making it harder for bacteria to develop resistance, researchers report September 12 in Nature.
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