Medical

CRISPR is a powerful gene-editing tool – but it has its own problems too. Now, Harvard and MIT scientists have created a new approach called prime editing, which could correct almost 90 percent of disease-causing genes.

New research is offering compelling evidence to suggest levels of a steroid hormone called allopregnanolone can affect fetal brain development, and when disrupted can result in cerebral abnormalities and increases in autism risk.

A novel study has for the first time detected significant accumulations of fatty tissue in airway walls of obese and overweight people suggesting these accumulations may explain why overweight individuals are at higher risk of respiratory disease.

A new gold-doped antibacterial nanomesh has been designed as a more effective alternative to pills or needles.

Scientists studying brain-computer interfaces at Johns Hopkins University are reporting a big breakthrough, demonstrating a system that enables a quadriplegic to control and gain feedback from two prosthetics arms at once.

A study has homed in on a gene linked to “short sleepers”, those with the ability to slumber for less than six hours a night with no negative consequences. The gene mutation also was found to prevent memory problems associated with sleep deprivation.

A landmark new study is strongly linking excessive neural activity with shorter lifespans. The study suggests a protein known to suppress neural excitation affects a number of longevity pathways, effectively slowing the aging process.

The difference between biological age and chronological age, as shown on our birth certificates, can reveal health problems associated with premature aging, and now scientists have devised a tool to study it in children for the first time.

An innovative system is suggesting white noise from a smart speaker can monitor breathing and movement in sleeping babies. So far, the prototype device can detect infant respiratory rates with accuracy matching standard vital sign monitors.

When someone has a severe burn, a protective covering needs to be temporarily grafted onto the wound site. Although that covering typically consists of skin from a human cadaver, live-cell pig skin has now been used on a patient for the first time.

One of the most promising types of cancer treatment involves boosting the immune system’s response to the presence of cancer, and now two new mouse studies out of Yale University are reporting breakthroughs in this area.

A new imaging technique could improve treatments for tumors, by revealing which ones need to be softened up ahead of time.