New Atlas

Medical Audio available

Clustered stem cells become working insulin producers in potential cure for diabetes

Nick Lavars February 11, 2019

Medical scientists have made a promising breakthrough in diabetes research, describing a novel technology that converts stem cells into insulin-secreting beta cells by harnessing an often overlooked step in their maturation.

Scientists at the University of California San Francisco have made a promising breakthrough in pursuit of ...

Biology Audio available

Tracking brain waves to decode mood could help fight depression

Michael Irving September 10, 2018

Neuroscience is stumped by what’s going on in the brain when we feel joy or sadness. In an effort to peek inside our moody minds, researchers have developed a technique to read brain signals and infer what mood a patient may be in, which could lead to new treatments for depression and anxiety.

A new technique may be able to decode brain waves to infer what mood a patient ...

Medical

First: Titanium micromotors zip around stomach, fight bacteria

Michael Franco August 16, 2017

In what they are calling a world first, nanoengineers have delivered tiny drug-bearing motors into the stomachs of mice where the devices moved around via bubble propulsion, which changed the pH of the stomach to allow the successful dispatch of bug-clobbering antibiotics.

The new invention makes the stomach a more hospitable environment in which bug-busting drugs can work

Medical

SMART cells open door to arthritis vaccine

Michael Franco April 27, 2017

Combining two cellular-editing processes, researchers have developed cartilage that fights inflammation. The scientists hope that the breakthrough could eventually lead to localized injections that combat arthritis or perhaps a vaccine that would eliminate the condition altogether.

An artist's impression of the reengineered cell that produces an anti-inflammatory drug when it encounters inflammation