Scientists can now design bacteria-killing viruses from DNA, opening a faster path to fighting superbugs. Bacteriophages have been used as treatments for bacterial infections for more than a century. Interest in these viruses is rising again as antibiotic-resistant infections become an increasing threat to public health. Even so, progress in the field has been slow. [...]
When you don’t sleep enough, your brain may clean itself at the exact moment you need it to think. Most people recognize the sensation. After a night of inadequate sleep, staying focused becomes harder than usual. Thinking feels slower, attention wanders, and simple tasks take more effort than they should. Researchers at MIT have now uncovered [...]
Researchers have developed a way to grow a highly specialized subset of brain nerve cells that are involved in motor neuron disease and damaged in spinal injuries. Their study, published today in eLife as the final Version of Record after appearing previously as a Reviewed Preprint, presents what the editors call fundamental findings on the directed [...]
Airports across Asia have been put on high alert after India confirmed two cases of the deadly Nipah virus in the state of West Bengal over the past month. Thailand, Nepal and Vietnam are among the countries screening airport arrivals over fears of an wider outbreak of the virus, which can spread from animals to humans [...]
A new nasal spray vaccine could stop bird flu at the door — blocking infection, reducing spread, and helping head off the next pandemic. Since first appearing in the United States in 2014, H5N1 avian influenza, widely known as bird flu, has steadily expanded its reach. The virus has spread from wild birds into farm animals [...]
Two emerging pathogens with animal origins—influenza D virus and canine coronavirus—have so far been quietly flying under the radar, but researchers warn conditions are ripe for the viruses to spread more widely among humans. If surveillance and diagnostics continue to lag, influenza D virus and canine coronavirus have real potential to trigger outbreaks, writes [...]
COVID-19 viral fragments shown to target and kill specific immune cells in UCLA-led study Clues about extreme cases and omicron’s effects come from a cross-disciplinary international research team New research shows that after the body’s defenses kill the virus behind COVID-19, leftover digested chunks of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can target specific immune cells based [...]
A salt-grain-sized neural implant can record and transmit brain activity wirelessly for extended periods. Researchers at Cornell University, working with collaborators, have created an extremely small neural implant that can sit on a grain of salt while wirelessly sending brain activity data from a living animal for more than a year. The advance, reported in Nature [...]
A newly developed imaging method blends ultrasound and photoacoustics to capture both tissue structure and blood-vessel function in 3D. By blending two powerful imaging methods, researchers from Caltech and USC have developed a new way to see inside the human body with unprecedented speed and detail. The technique produces three-dimensional, full-color images that show not only [...]
People with spinal cord injuries often lose the ability to move their arms or legs. In many cases, the nerves in the limbs remain healthy, and the brain continues to function normally. The loss of movement happens because damage to the spinal cord blocks signals traveling between the brain and the body. This disconnect has [...]
