Heart

People living in the hottest places on Earth may be up to three times as likely to die from a heart-related cause, according to a newly published study. Heat-related stress could be made worse in the coming decades by the effects of global warming.

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have been working towards a one-size-fits all prosthetic heart valve, and have come up with a design they say works at a variety of diameters, and avoids the need for invasive surgeries as kids grow.

After a heart attack has occurred, some of the beating cardiac tissue ends up being replaced with non-beating scar tissue – this permanently compromises the function of the heart. A new patch, however, is designed to help.

Atherosclerosis is a disease where fatty plaques build up in the arteries, increasing risk of heart attack or stroke. But now, researchers at Oxford have found a protein that could be targeted in new prevention drugs for these deadly buildups.

Researchers at MIT have developed a bionic heart to test heart valves and other cardiac implants under realistic conditions. Built out of an actual living heart, the new device promises improved designs and less expensive development cycles.

In what is a world-first and potentially the dawn of a new medical technology to treat damaged hearts, scientists in Japan have succeeded in transplanting lab-grown heart cells into human patients for the first time ever.

A team of Stanford University scientists have captured the first ever recording of a blue whale’s heart rate, and in doing so, have gathered some interesting insights into the massive mammal's behavior and evolution.

American researchers have 3D-bioprinted a miniature human heart, using human cardiac cells.

​​​​A beating heart relies on a healthy circuitry of electrical signals to maintain a steady rhythm. Scientists are now reporting a new potential treatment for when things break down, using fine carbon threads as electrical bridges to keep the signals circulating. ​

​Considering how important an organ it is, it’s a shame that the heart is so bad at repairing itself. Stem cells are an emerging solution, and now researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Washington have combined heart muscle cells and supportive cells to help mend broken hearts.

The distant scientific objective of 3D printed human organs has now grown a little bit closer, with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University reporting a breakthrough that enabled the printing of full-scale heart components that in some cases functioned similarly to the real thing.

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer in the world – and we might have a two million year old ancestor to blame. A team pinpointed a single gene that ancient ancestors lost, which appears to have predisposed us as a species towards higher rates of atherosclerosis than other apes.