New Atlas

Good Thinking Audio available

Easily-obtained "chronoprints" could detect bogus medicine

Ben Coxworth March 21, 2019

In the developing world, about 10 percent of medications are actually inferior counterfeits of the real thing. Unfortunately, these same regions often lack the equipment needed for detecting those fakes. An inexpensive new system, however, could remedy that problem.

The system can be used to test both liquid medication, and solid medication dissolved in water

Medical

Doctor's office "phone booth" offers diagnoses and dispenses medication on the spot

Michael Irving March 12, 2019

Online consultations with real doctors could be useful, but just talking or texting with a patient often isn’t enough for an accurate diagnosis. To give a telepresence doctor more presence, the new OnMed Station is equipped with cameras and various sensors, and can even dispense drugs as prescribed.

The OnMed Station is a new remote doctor's office kitted out with cameras and sensors to ...

Health & Wellbeing Audio available

Potential Parkinson's treatment delivers protein directly to the brain

Ben Coxworth February 27, 2019

It was just last month that we heard about a brain implant which dispenses a protein to stop seizures in epileptic rats. An unrelated study now suggests that a brain implant in humans, which delivers that same protein, could be used to treat and even reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease.

The Convection Enhanced Delivery system consists of four tubes implanted within the brain, all of which ...

Health & Wellbeing Audio available

Therapeutic human protein grown in tobacco plants

Ben Coxworth February 26, 2019

Made by our kidneys, interleukin 37 is a protein that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It's produced in small quantities in the body, but if made externally in larger amounts, it could be used to treat many conditions. Scientists have now developed a way of producing it in tobacco plants.

Tony Jevnikar (left) and Shengwu Ma are affiliated with both Western University and the Lawson Health ...

Medical Audio available

"Smart" needle senses tissue pressure to know exactly where it is

Ben Coxworth February 25, 2019

It's safe to say that no one likes the thought of getting a needle in the eye. If they have to, therefore, it would certainly be best if the procedure were performed correctly the first time. A new "smart" tissue-sensing needle is designed to help that happen.

An illustration of the i2T2 needle being used to deliver medication to the eye's suprachoroidal space

Health & Wellbeing

Muscle-maintaining drug has potential to help seniors stay spry

Ben Coxworth February 15, 2019

It's a sad fact that past the age of about 35, we begin to lose muscle mass. This can be somewhat offset through exercise, although most people still generally tend to get weaker as they get older. A new drug could help, as it's been shown to increase muscle size and strength in elderly mice.

Known as NNMTi, the drug reduces age-related dysfunction of muscle stem cells

Medical Audio available

New chemo drug keeps platinum nanoparticles on target for liver cancer

Michael Irving February 15, 2019

Chemotherapy drugs are effective at killing cancer cells – but they’re also pretty good at killing healthy cells. Making these drugs more selective for tumors is a key area of research, and now a team at ETH Zurich has found a way to keep a common treatment – platinum nanoparticles – on target.

Researchers have found a way to make platinum nanoparticles more effective against liver cancer, without harming ...

Medical Audio available

MIT's new oral capsule injects insulin through microneedles

Michael Irving February 7, 2019

Plenty of work has gone into developing an insulin pill as an alternative to injections, but that comes with its own challenges. Now, an MIT team has created a new design for a capsule that houses a microneedle made of insulin, which injects the hormone through the stomach lining.

MIT's new insulin-delivering capsule contains a microneedle that injects the hormone into the bloodstream through the ...

Medical Audio available

Pufferfish-inspired pill could keep a long-term eye on your gastric health

Anthony Wood January 30, 2019

MIT researchers have developed an ingestible pill that swells up to the size of a ping-pong ball upon reaching the stomach, allowing it to remain in the body and take measurements from within – for weeks at a time.

The pill has the potential to keep track of stomach health using a variety of sensors

Science Audio available

"Chicken bioreactors" lay medicinal eggs

Ben Coxworth January 28, 2019

Ordinarily, when scientists want to produce proteins for use in medicine, they have to utilize techniques that are costly and complex. Recently, however, Scottish researchers have created genetically-modified hens that simply lay eggs containing significant quantities of such proteins.

The hens have so far been used to produce two therapeutic proteins