Toggle light / dark theme

Astronaut John McFall hopes to see an ISS astronaut with a disability fly by 2030 — video.


A European Space Agency (ESA) reserve astronaut, McFall was selected for the program in 2022 based on his experience as a trauma and orthopedic specialist, surgeon and exercise scientist. McFall also has lived experience with a disability as he has used prosthetics regularly since the amputation of his right leg at age 19, following a motorcycle accident. (He even won a bronze medal in the 2008 Paralympics in the 100-meter sprint, class T42.)

A recent study dubbed “Fly!” — in which McFall played a key role — found there would be no major issues to International Space Station missions should an astronaut use a prosthesis on board. There is more work to be done, but the goal is for it all to culminate in flying “someone with a physical disability” to the ISS, McFall told Space.com in an exclusive interview on Aug. 8. “By the end of this decade, hopefully that would have happened.”

An innovative study of DNA ’s hidden structures may open up new approaches for the treatment and diagnosis of diseases, including cancer.

Researchers at the Garvan Institute have unveiled the first comprehensive map of over 50,000 i-motifs in the human genome, structures distinct from the classic double helix that may play crucial roles in gene regulation and disease. These findings highlight the potential of i-motifs in developing new therapies, particularly in targeting genes associated with cancers.

Unraveling the Mysteries of DNA i-Motifs.

Neuralink’s first patient says he’s given his brain-chip implant a name seven months after it was surgically implanted.

Noland Arbaugh, who is quadriplegic and became the first person to get the computer-controlling implant developed by Elon Musk’s brain-interface company, said Wednesday that he had named the device “Eve” and was working with it to improve himself in different ways.

We have to do this ❤️

Replacing research animals with tools that better mimic human biology could improve medicine.

By Rachel Nuwer

When it came time for Itzy Morales Pantoja to start her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular medicine, she chose a laboratory that used stem cells—not only animals—for its research. Morales Pantoja had just spent two years studying multiple sclerosis in mouse models. As an undergraduate, she’d been responsible for ­giving the animals painful injections to induce the disease and then observing as they lost their ability to move. She did her best to treat the mice gently, but she knew they were ­suffering. “As soon as I got close to them, they’d start peeing—a sign of stress,” she says. “They knew what was coming.”

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have shown that there is a connection between medication against ADHD and a reduced risk of dying prematurely.


Forskare från Karolinska Institutet har visat att det finns ett samband mellan medicinering mot adhd och minskad risk för att dö i förtid. Risken för dödsfall av onaturliga orsaker, som olyckor och överdoseringar, kan minska med en fjärdedel, enligt den nya studien publicerad i JAMA.