Category Health/Medical

Scientist have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism. The discovery adds further evidence to support the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism first proposed 20 years ago.

In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later de...

Biomedical engineers are helping develop a prosthetic arm for amputees that can move with the person’s thoughts and feel the sensation of touch via an array of electrodes implanted in the muscles of the patient.

Keven Walgamott had a good “feeling” about picking up the egg without crushing it. What seems simple for nearly everyone else can be more of a Herculean task for Walgamott, who lost his left hand and part of his arm in an electrical accident 17 years ago. But he was testing out the prototype of a high-tech prosthetic arm with fingers that not only can move, they can move with his thoughts...

Transformative biotechnology lets scientists build biological circuits that give cells unprecedented capabilities. A first-of-its-kind artificial protein – designed on a computer and synthesized in the lab – can be used to build brand-new biological circuits inside living cells. These circuits transform ordinary cells into smart cells that are endowed with remarkable abilities.

Medicine has a “Goldilocks” problem...

1. Somatic Niche Cells Regulate the CEP-1/p53-Mediated DNA Damage Response in Primordial Germ Cells. Developmental Cell, 2019; 50 (2): 167 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.06.012

Scientists have presented new findings that challenge established concepts of genetic inheritance. They have proven that somatic cells of the roundworm C. elegans influence heredity.

Scientists at the CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research of the University of Cologne have discovered that body cells which are in direct contact with the germ cells in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are responsible for controlling the stability of the genome in primordial germ cells (PGCs). All germ cells, including sperm and eggs, originate from primordial germ cells that form during early embryo development...