Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 818

Scientists Have Developed an Engineered Protein That Improves Memory

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the Catholic University, Rome and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS have developed an engineered protein that boosts memory.

Neuroscientists at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University, Rome, and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS have genetically modified a molecule, the protein LIMK1, which is normally active in the brain, with a key role in memory.

They added a “molecular switch” that is activated by administering a drug, rapamycin, known for its several anti-aging effects on the brain.

Scientists Uncover 14 Evolutionary Traps Threatening Humanity’s Future

Misaligned AI is not the one you should worry most about (yet).

For the first time, scientists have used the concept of evolutionary traps on human societies at large. They find that humankind risks getting stuck in 14 evolutionary dead ends, ranging from global climate tipping points to misaligned artificial intelligence, chemical pollution, and accelerating infectious diseases.

The anthropocene era: success and challenges.

Swallowable device tracking vital signs inside the body in human trial

A new device that can be swallowed like a pill can track vital signs such as breathing and heart rate from inside the body.

Left: Ben Pless Right: Traverso Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“This device can help diagnose and monitor many health conditions without requiring hospital visits, which can make healthcare more accessible and supportive for patients,” says Giovanni Traverso, the lead author of the study, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Nanoparticles for optimized cancer therapy

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancers in humans. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the western world. The early stages of the disease often progress without symptoms, so diagnosis is usually very late.

Another problem: Advanced tumors – and their metastases – can no longer be completely removed. Chemotherapies, in turn, attack not only the tumor cells but also healthy cells throughout the body. Innovative nanoparticles could be a new approach to treat cancer more precisely.

The approach was developed by a research team from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The therapy is now to be optimized for clinical application as quickly as possible.

Conscious Brain Chemistry Recorded by Electrode System

An international team of researchers has provided valuable insights into the brain’s noradrenaline (NA) system, which has been a longtime target for medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, and anxiety.

Equally important beyond the findings is the groundbreaking methodology that the researchers developed to record real-time chemical activity from standard clinical electrodes which are routinely implanted for epilepsy monitoring.

Published online in the journal Current Biology on Monday (Oct. 23), the research not only provides new insights into the brain’s chemistry, which could have implications for a wide array of medical conditions, it also highlights a remarkable new capacity to acquire data from the living human brain.

‘Lab on a Chip’ Genetic Test device can Identify Viruses within Three Minutes with Top-Level Accuracy

Compact genetic testing device created for Covid-19 could be used to detect a range of pathogens, or conditions including cancer.

A virus diagnosis device that gives lab-quality results within just three minutes has been invented by engineers at the University of Bath, who describe it as the ‘world’s fastest Covid test’

The prototype LoCKAmp device uses innovative ‘lab on a chip’ technology and has been proven to provide rapid and low-cost detection of Covid-19 from nasal swabs. The research team, based at the University of Bath, say the technology could easily be adapted to detect other pathogens such as bacteria — or even conditions like cancer.

A New Trail to Exoplanets: Team successfully detects Ammonia Isotopologues in Atmosphere of Cold Brown Dwarf

They reveal the origin of wine, the age of bones and fossils, and they serve as diagnostic tools in medicine. Isotopes and isotopologues—molecules that differ only in the composition of their isotopes—also play an increasingly important role in astronomy. For example, the ratio of carbon-12 (12C) to carbon-13 (13C) isotopes in the atmosphere of an exoplanet allows scientists to infer the distance at which the exoplanet orbits its central star.

Until now, 12C and 13C bound in carbon monoxide were the only isotopologues that could be measured in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Now a team of researchers has succeeded in detecting ammonia isotopologues in the atmosphere of a cold brown dwarf.

As the team has just reported in the journal Nature, ammonia could be measured in the form of 14NH3 and 15NH3. Astrophysicists Polychronis Patapis and Adrian Glauser, who are members of the Department of Physics as well as of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, were involved in the study—Patapis as one of the first authors.

/* */