Health & Medicine

Neuroscience

Stem cell approach for Parkinson’s disease gets boost

Postmortem study finds Parkinson’s patients can retain transplanted neurons for years.

Neuroscience

Sleep strengthens some synapses

Mice show signs of stronger neuron connections when allowed to sleep after learning a trick.

Health & Medicine

Your baby: The ultimate science experiment

Babies may be serious scientists, but parents can join the fun by trying some simple experiments with their kids.

Health & Medicine

Early malnutrition may impair infants’ mix of gut microbes

Babies’ gut microbiomes fail to fully recover even after fending off bouts with malnutrition.

Neuroscience

Stress and the susceptible brain

Some of us bounce back from stress, while others never really recover. A new study shows that different brain activity patterns could make the difference.

Health & Medicine

Health risks of e-cigarettes emerge

Research uncovers a growing list of chemicals that end up in an e-cigarette user’s lungs, and one study finds that an e-cigarette’s vapors can increase the virulence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Genetics

Blind mole-rats are loaded with anticancer genes

Genes of the long-lived blind mole-rat help explain how the animal evades cancer and why it lost vision.

Health & Medicine

Brain’s support cells play role in hunger

Once considered just helpers for neurons, astrocytes sense the hormone leptin and can change mice’s appetites.

Health & Medicine

Your brain on marijuana: two views

Many of the “facts” that people believe to be true about marijuana are not supported by science, and while the pro-pot lobby cherry-picks data to support its arguments (denying marijuana’s addictiveness, for example), so too do anti-marijuana groups, which play up pot’s dangers.

Life

Designer T cells emerge as weapons against disease

Decades of attempts to boost the immune system’s ability to fight disease are finally starting to pay off. Reprogrammed T cells serve as new weapons against cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Tech

Lasers heal damaged rodent teeth

Handheld laser spurs stem cells into action, regrowing dentin in drilled teeth.

Health & Medicine

Separating wheat from chaff in gluten sensitivity

Some people who think they are sensitive to gluten might not be after all: Fermentable short chain carbohydrates, or FODMAPs, may be to blame in people with irritable bowel syndrome.