Health

a head of lettuce on a colorful background

Insulin grown in lettuce can be taken orally

New synthetic insulin harvested from lettuce plants can be made cheaply, taken orally, and transported at room temperature.

Kristin Houser

Brain

Cancer med appears to prevent brain aneurysms

Japanese researchers have discovered that the cancer drug sunitinib can prevent the formation of brain aneurysms in mice.

Kristin Houser

“Nature’s own Ozempic” or berberine is all over social media

Does berberine work as well as Ozempic to help people lose weight? Social media seems to think so, but it’s not likely.

Rebecca Roubin and Nial Wheate and Tina Hinton

Medicine

First-of-its-kind trial will attempt to grow mini livers in people

A new treatment that could turn a single donor liver into “mini livers” capable of saving 75 or more lives is heading into human trials.

Kristin Houser

Genetics

Woman with rare gene mutations feels no pain, anxiety

A woman in Scotland was found to feel virtually no pain and report zero trace of any anxiety or depression.

Stephen Johnson

Drugs

Microdosing’s benefits may be powered by belief

A small, double-blind, placebo-controlled study has found evidence that expectations may be behind microdosing’s beneficial effects.

B. David Zarley

Wearables

Shoe wearable could help Parkinson’s patients avoid falling

Data-collecting sensors in shoes can predict a Parkinson’s patient’s fall risk almost as accurately as standard walking tests.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Insulin pills could end the need for painful injections

Insulin pills designed to be dissolved in the mouth appear to overcome a major hurdle holding back the development of oral insulin.

Kristin Houser

Mental Health

This 20-year chart of depression diagnoses shows an incredible shift

People are being diagnosed with depression earlier than in the past because of a decrease in stigma and better diagnostic guidelines.

Saloni Dattani at Our World in Data

First-of-its-kind trial shows AI beat humans at analyzing heart scans

Echonet, an AI trained to assess a measure of heart function, has outperformed trained technicians in both accuracy and efficiency.

Kristin Houser

The genome of the immortal jellyfish has been sequenced

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the immortal jellyfish, revealing insights into its ability to reverse its life cycle.

B. David Zarley

Synthetic DNA nasal spray could stop COVID, flu, and other viruses

Cal-Berkeley researchers have developed a nasal spray which uses DNA-like molecules to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from replicating.

B. David Zarley

Coronavirus

FDA authorizes updated COVID-19 boosters

The FDA has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s updated COVID-19 boosters, which target the now-dominant Omicron subvariants.

Kristin Houser

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