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

Gene therapy fixes rare heart disorder with clever workaround

Cleveland Clinic researchers have developed a gene therapy that cured arrhythmias in mice.

B. David Zarley

Brain

Stimulating deep sleep may improve brain health, memory, and mood

Researchers are trying to harness deep sleep to bolster the glymphatic system, which helps flush brain tissue.

B. David Zarley

History

The US Civil War drastically reshaped how Americans deal with death – will the pandemic?

How do American's attitudes towards death change when they are confronted with such enormous losses?

Gary Laderman

Medicine

Small trial of cancer immunotherapy sends every patient into remission

Every participant in a small trial testing a rectal cancer immunotherapy has had their disease go into complete remission.

Kristin Houser

Public Health

Three more nations eliminate sleeping sickness as a public health threat

Sleeping sickness is a horrifying disease mainly impacting the rural poor. But three more African nations have succeeded in curtailing its threat.

B. David Zarley

Public Health

Why at-home STI tests may (finally) be about to take off

Inspired by the home testing of the pandemic and rising STI cases, some experts think that more accessible testing may be an important public health tool.

B. David Zarley

Brain

This already-approved drug could help repair the brain after stroke

Ohio State researchers have found that an already approved anticonvulsant drug helps increase stroke recovery in mice.

B. David Zarley

Food

New gene-edited tomatoes boost vitamin D levels

As many as a billion people may be suffering from vitamin D deficiency.

Ross Pomeroy

Biology

Study reveals the dynamics of human milk production

MIT researchers performed a large-scale study of the cells in human breast milk, allowing them to track how these cells change over time.

Anne Trafton | MIT News Office

Surgery

UK man receives double hand transplant to treat rare disease

UK surgeons have performed the world’s first double hand transplant to treat scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease.

Kristin Houser

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