Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi has won the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on autophagy: how cells in the human body repair themselves and detoxify. He will nab the award for “mechanisms for autophagy.” The scientist led a series of groundbreaking experiments in the early 1990s that helped researchers to understand the process…
Bacteria is coming from local sewage and could affect water sport competitions Athlete says beach water “feels like there’s some alien enemy entering your face” Rio de Janeiro (CNN)A group of Brazilian scientists have detected a drug-resistant bacteria growing off the shores of some of Rio de Janeiro’s most stunning beaches, one month before they’re…
European scientists announced on Thursday they had discovered antibodies which attack Zika, a step they hope will pave the way for a protective vaccine against the brain-damaging virus. The antibodies — frontline soldiers in the immune system — “efficiently neutralise” Zika in human cells in lab dishes, and are also effective against its cousin virus…
Looking at your smartphone while lying in bed at night could wreak havoc on your vision. Two women went temporarily blind from constantly checking their phones in the dark, say doctors who are now alerting others to the unusual phenomenon. The solution: Make sure to use both eyes when looking at your smartphone screen in…
A link between cellphones and cancer has been found in a major U.S. study, officials said late Thursday. The peer-reviewed $25 million study was conducted over multiple years and found two types of tumors in male rats exposed to the same kind of radio frequencies emitted by the devices. The tumors were found in brain…
A cancer victim has become the first man in the United States to receive a penis transplant, The New York Times reports. Thomas Manning, a 64-year-old bank courier, had his penis removed because of cancer and underwent the 15-hour experimental surgery earlier this month. The newspaper reports that the transplanted organ came from a matched…
Former Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who died in July, had the degenerative brain condition likely caused by repeated blows to the head. An autopsy found that on a scale of 1 to 4, Stabler had high Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, according to Boston University researches. Stabler died on July 8 of colon…
President Barack Obama announced a national effort to find a cure for cancer during his final State of the Union speech Tuesday night. He also called on Vice President Joe Biden to lead the initiative. “Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moon shot, America can cure cancer,” he said. “Because he’s…
The U.S. National Institutes of Health retired its controversial program of using chimpanzees for biomedical research. In an email to administrators, NIH Director Francis Collins said Wednesday the remaining 50 chimpanzees held for medical research will be sent to sanctuaries. The NIH also said it would develop a plan to begin resettling the remaining chimps…
A WHO study released Monday categorizes processed meats like sausage and bacon as “carcinogenic to humans,” along with asbestos and smoking. The study adds that red meat likely causes cancer, too. Though the 22-member panel behind the study was not unanimous, the research has raised alarms in the beef industry, which takes in some $95…
National Geographic is scheduled to air the first-ever live brain surgery on Oct. 25, according to Hollywood Reporter. The network is teaming up with Mental Floss and Bryant Gumbel is slated to host the two-hour event. Viewers will get an up-close look at awake deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in real-time at University Hospitals Case…
A recently developed vaccine against the Ebola virus provided 100 percent protection in preliminary trials, showing such promise that the World Health Organization is extending vaccination to “all people at risk.” According to a WHO statement Friday, the VSV-EBOV vaccine was hailed as “highly effective” and could help prevent the spread of the deadly disease…
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday recommended the approval of a controversial pill, flibanserin, that would boost women’s libido, The pill has been rejected twice already by the F.D.A., which said the drug’s benefits don’t outweigh its risks.
Drinking three to five cups of coffee a day may be more helpful than harmful, according to a study published in the journal Heart on Monday. A team of researchers in South Korea found that people who drank moderate amounts of coffee, which is three to five cups daily, were less likely to develop clogged…
Two HIV-infected men appear to have experienced a “spontaneous cure” to HIV, which may hold the secret to combatting the virus. French scientists studied the two men who contracted HIV but never developed AIDS symptoms. They came from a group known as “elite controllers,” the fewer than 1 percent of people who contract HIV can…
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to American-British neuroscientist John O’Keefe, and Norwegian scientists May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the prize annually to “the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine.” It is…
Doctors in Liberia infected with Ebola will receive an experimental treatment known as ZMapp as the World Health Organization says it is ethical to give untested and unproven drugs to help stem the spread of the outbreak. Photo: Health workers prescreen people for the deadly Ebola virus before they enter the Kenema Government Hospital in…
Plane carrying second Ebola patient Arrives at Atlanta Hospital A small plane carrying Nancy Writebol, the second American Ebola patient from Liberia, arrived in the United States Tuesday, making a brief refueling stop in Bangor en route to Atlanta and Emory University Hospital. [usatoday]
Nancy Writebol has been given Zmapp, an experimental drug and is being taken to an Atlanta hospital blocks from the CDC. But the experimental drug ZMapp, which Brantly and Writebol received despite the medication never being subjected to clinical trials, is getting a lot of attention. Just last Thursday, Brantly’s condition in Liberia had deteriorated…
Calm down, everyone. The NYC hospital patient being tested for Ebola is “unlikely” to have the virus, the Health Department says. The man recently traveled to a country in West Africa where Ebola is currently prevalent, and returned to the U.S. with a high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. He’s been placed in “strict” isolation while…
A promising new approach intended to imprison malaria causing parasites inside infected red blood cells has been developed by scientists.
Cases of the MERS Coronavirus have significantly increased in the last few months, and in recent weeks there have been reports of the virus in new countries including Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, leaving officials struggling to figure out why infections have increased. The MERS Coronavirus, which stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Coronavirus, was…
Researchers are shocked after an electrical stimulator has allowed men who were left paralyzed following spinal cord injuries to move their legs again. Photo: Kent Stephenson raises his leg after undergoing stimulation of the spinal cord surgery (Courtesy of the University of Louisville) NBC News
A mysterious giant virus buried for 30,000 years in Siberian permafrost has been resurrected. The virus only infects single-celled organisms and doesn’t closely resemble any known pathogens that harm humans. Even so, the new discovery raises the possibility that as the climate warms and exploration expands in long-untouched regions of Siberia, humans could release ancient…
Going on a health kick reverses ageing at the cellular level, researchers say. The University of California team says it has found the first evidence a strict regime of exercise, diet and meditation can have such an effect. But experts say although the study in Lancet Oncology is intriguing, it is too early to draw…
Japan’s government on Friday gave its seal of approval to the world’s first clinical trials using stem cells harvested from a patient’s own body. Health Minister Norihisa Tamura signed off on a proposal by two research institutes that will allow them to begin tests aimed at treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a common medical condition…
Scottish scientists have been given the go-ahead for the world’s first trials in humans of synthetic blood. Researchers based at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) in Edinburgh hope to use stem cells to manufacture blood on an industrial scale to help end shortages and prevent infections being passed on in donations. The UK’s…
Britain’s Sir Robert Edwards, the Nobel prize-winning scientist who pioneered the development of test tube babies, has died after a long illness, Cambridge University has announced. Professor Edwards was honoured in 2010 with the prize for medicine for his breakthrough, conceived through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). ITV News
A computer can predict what you’re dreaming about based on brain wave activity, new research suggests. By measuring people’s brain activity during waking moments, researchers were able to pick out the signatures of specific dream imagery — such as keys or a bed — while the dreamer was asleep. NBC News
By 52 to 45 percent, Americans say marijuana should be made legal, according to a poll released by the Pew Research Center. Last November, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found the public split 48 to 50 percent on whether to legalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use. And 51 percent of registered voters supported…
