Human Quirks: Health & Medicine

December 24, 2024

Top Headlines

Swarms of 'Ant-Like' Robots Lift Heavy Objects and Hurl Themselves Over Obstacles

Dec. 18, 2024 — Scientists have developed swarms of tiny magnetic robots that work together like ants to achieve Herculean feats, including traversing and picking up objects many times their size. The findings ...

World Cup Soccer Is Getting Faster for Men and Women Alike

Dec. 17, 2024 — If the experience of watching a FIFA World Cup soccer final is intense, spare a thought for the players, who are competing at an ever increasing intensity, according to a new ...

Brain Cells Remain Healthy After a Month on the International Space Station, but Mature Faster Than Brain Cells on Earth

Dec. 17, 2024 — Microgravity is known to alter the muscles, bones, the immune system and cogni tion, but little is known about its specific impact on the brain. To discover how brain cells respond to microgravity, ...

Tiny Robots, Big Impact: Revolutionizing Infertility Treatment With Magnetic Microrobots

Dec. 17, 2024 — Infertility affects an estimated 186 million people worldwide, with fallopian tube obstruction contributing to 11%-67% of female infertility cases. Researchers have developed an innovative solution ...

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Generate Electricity by Attaching Device to Your Clothes

Dec. 16, 2024 — A research team has developed a highly efficient wearable energy harvester that can power electronic devices using only body ...

Genes That Determine Tooth Shape Identified

Dec. 12, 2024 — Genetic variants that determine the shape of your teeth -- including a gene inherited from Neanderthals -- have been identified by a team of ...

Breakthrough Brings Body-Heat Powered Wearable Devices Closer to Reality

Dec. 12, 2024 — A research team has developed an ultra-thin, flexible film that could power next-generation wearable devices using body heat, eliminating the need for ...

Sculpting the Brain (Without Chisel or Scalpel)

Dec. 10, 2024 — Researchers report that they have successfully tested a novel approach for teaching the human brain to learn through external manipulation and neural feedback -- what they call the 'sculpting' of ...

Minuscule Robots for Targeted Drug Delivery

Dec. 11, 2024 — An interdisciplinary team has created tiny bubble-like microrobots that can deliver therapeutics right where they are needed and then be absorbed by the ...

Scientists Transform Ubiquitous Skin Bacterium Into a Topical Vaccine

Dec. 11, 2024 — Scientists' findings in mice could translate into a radical, needle-free vaccination approach that would also eliminate reactions including fever, swelling and ...

AI Thought Knee X-Rays Show If You Drink Beer -- They Don't

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study highlights a hidden challenge of using AI in medical imaging research -- the phenomenon of highly accurate yet potentially misleading results known as 'shortcut learning.' The researchers ...

Delivering Medicines With Microscopic 'Flowers'

Dec. 10, 2024 — Using microparticles consisting of extremely thin petals, medicines can be delivered via the bloodstream in a precisely targeted manner, for example to a tumour or blood clot. Ultrasound and other ...

Getting to the Bottom of Things: Latrine Findings Help Researcher Trace the Movement of People and Disease

Dec. 6, 2024 — A researcher has uncovered evidence of intestinal parasites in a 500-year-old latrine from Bruges, Belgium, and while the finding may induce ...

Uncovered a Mystery of 'Electron Carrier' Existing in All Living Organisms: Discovery of a 'Nano-Switch Mechanism' Controlled by a Single Hydrogen Atom

Dec. 3, 2024 — The hydrogen atoms of [4Fe-4S] type ferredoxin, one of the electron carriers, have been visualized and both experiments and calculations have ...

The Heart Has Its Own 'Brain'

Dec. 4, 2024 — New research shows that the heart has a mini-brain -- its own nervous system that controls the heartbeat. A better understanding of this system, which is much more diverse and complex than previously ...

Scientists Identify Brain Cell Type as Master Controller of Urination

Dec. 3, 2024 — Researchers have identified a subset of brain cells in mice that act as the master regulators of ...

Controlling Matter at the Atomic Level

Dec. 3, 2024 — Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions -- could this shape the future of pharmaceutical ...

Peat-Bog Fungi Produce Substances That Kill Tuberculosis-Causing Bacteria

Dec. 3, 2024 — An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has identified several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium that causes the human disease tuberculosis. The findings suggest that one ...

Temporary Tattoo Printed Directly on the Scalp Offers Easy, Hair-Friendly Solution for Measuring Brainwaves

Dec. 2, 2024 — Scientists have invented a liquid ink that doctors can print onto a patient's scalp to measure brain activity. The technology offers a promising alternative to the cumbersome process currently ...

Smallest Walking Robot Makes Microscale Measurements

Dec. 2, 2024 — Researchers have created the smallest walking robot yet. Its mission: to be tiny enough to interact with waves of visible light and still move independently, so that it can maneuver to specific ...

Researchers Develop Clinically Validated, Wearable Ultrasound Patch for Continuous Blood Pressure Monitoring

Nov. 20, 2024 — A re-engineered wearable ultrasound patch for continuous and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring has undergone comprehensive clinical validation on over 100 patients, marking a major milestone in ...

Scientists Recreate Mouse from Gene Older Than Animal Life

Nov. 18, 2024 — An international team of researchers has achieved an unprecedented milestone: the creation of mouse stem cells capable of generating a fully developed mouse using genetic tools from a unicellular ...

Robotic Shorts Support People When Walking

Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers have developed robotic trousers that enable people to walk more easily while expending measurably less energy. The aim is to keep frail individuals and in particular the elderly mobile ...

Synthetic Cells Emulate Natural Cellular Communication

Nov. 12, 2024 — A research team has succeeded in synthesizing simple, environmentally sensitive cells complete with artificial organelles. For the first time, the researchers have also been able to emulate natural ...

Robot That Watched Surgery Videos Performs With Skill of Human Doctor, Researchers Report

Nov. 11, 2024 — A robot, trained for the first time by watching videos of seasoned surgeons, executed the same surgical procedures as skillfully as the human doctors, say ...

SARS-CoV-2 'Steals' Our Proteins to Protect Itself from the Immune System

Nov. 8, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks three important host proteins that dampen the activity of the complement system, a key component of early antiviral immunity. This significantly ...

New Insights Into the Denisovans: New Hominin Group That Interbred With Modern Day Humans

Nov. 8, 2024 — Scientists believe individuals of the most recently discovered 'hominin' group (the Denisovans) that interbred with modern day humans passed on some of their genes via multiple, distinct ...

Memories Are Not Only in the Brain, New Research Finds

Nov. 7, 2024 — It's common knowledge that our brains -- and, specifically, our brain cells -- store memories. But a team of scientists has discovered that cells from other parts of the body also perform a ...

Research Shows Caterpillar Fungus Can Slow Down Growth of Cancer Cells

Nov. 7, 2024 — New research into a chemical produced by a caterpillar fungus that has shown promise as a possible cancer treatment has revealed how it interacts with genes to interrupt cell growth signals. The ...

Deaf Male Mosquitoes Don't Mate

Nov. 5, 2024 — Romance is a complex affair in humans. There's personality, appearance, seduction, all manner of physical and social cues. Mosquitoes are much more blunt. Mating occurs for a few seconds in ...

Revolutionary High-Speed 3D Bioprinter Hailed a Game Changer for Drug Discovery

Nov. 1, 2024 — Biomedical engineers have invented a 3D printing system, or bioprinter, capable of fabricating structures that closely mimic the diverse tissues in the human body, from soft brain tissue to harder ...

Bones from Tudor Mary Rose Shipwreck Suggest Handedness Might Affect Collarbone Chemistry

Oct. 30, 2024 — A new study of human skeletal remains from the wreck of the 16th century English warship Mary Rose suggests that whether a person is right- versus left-handed may influence how their clavicle bone ...

Keeping Fewer Friends Protects Aging Monkeys from Diseases

Oct. 28, 2024 — Becoming less sociable protects older monkeys from getting ill, new research ...

Batteries for Miniature Bio-Integrated Devices and Robotics

Oct. 25, 2024 — Researchers have developed a miniature soft lithium-ion battery that could be used as a defibrillator to control heart rhythm during surgery. The flexible lithium-ion battery is constructed by ...