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    Category Health/Medical

    Organ-on-a-chip technology replicates decades of human aging in just four days

    April 1, 2026, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    An array of microfluidic chips with circuit-like patterns on a metal wafer, illuminated in blue, pink, and yellow light.
    A prototype wafer shows various configurations that the Stahl lab tested before settling on their current design. UC Berkeley photo by Mathew Burciaga

    Over one billion people worldwide are over 60, and the population is projected to more than double by 2050. But as more people live into their 60s, 70s, and 80s, health care systems across the globe may face new challenges as they attempt to manage associated increases in age-related disease.

    Metabolic biologist Andreas Stahl and preeminent longevity researcher Irina Conboy argue that the graying of the global population underscores the need to understand aging as a biological process, and how it might be slowed or reversed...

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    Boosting good gut bacteria population through targeted interventions may slow cognitive decline

    March 31, 2026, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Boosting good gut bacteria population through targeted interventions may slow cognitive decline
    Microbiota-targeted interventions are associated with improvements in memory, executive function, and global cognition. Credit: Darryl Leja, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

    The origin of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia isn’t limited to the brain. The state of your gut can quietly set off a cycle of chronic, system-wide inflammation that nudges the brain toward cognitive decline. But how does the pathogenesis of a disease that seems purely brain-based begin in the gut—an organ that is mostly busy producing chemicals for digesting food?

    It turns out these two entities are linked by the gut-brain axis, a two-way communication superhighway that constantly sends signals between the digestive tract and the central nervous s...

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    Stroke triggers a hidden brain change that looks like rejuvenation

    March 30, 2026, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Stroke May Rejuvenate the Brain
    When a stroke damages brain tissue along an important movement pathway, the injured side of the brain may show faster aging (red), while parts of the opposite side may appear relatively “younger” (blue) as the brain tries to compensate. This pattern is linked to more severe movement problems and less recovery. Credit: Stevens INI

    Stroke may secretly “rejuvenate” parts of the brain as it fights to recover.
    After a stroke, the brain may do something surprisingly hopeful—it can “refresh” parts of itself. Researchers analyzing brain scans from over 500 stroke survivors found that while the damaged side of the brain appears to age faster, the opposite, unaffected side can actually look younger...

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    Implantable islet cells could control diabetes without insulin injections

    March 29, 2026, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Two tiny rectangular devices have curved edges. The devices are orange-yellow and are made of a circuit board and soldered pieces, including a diamond-shaped piece of material in the middle.
    Caption:MIT engineers designed an implantable device that carries hundreds of thousands of islet cells along with its own on-board oxygen factory to keep the cells healthy.
    Credits:Image: Felice Frankel

    Most diabetes patients must carefully monitor their blood sugar levels and inject insulin multiple times per day, to help keep their blood sugar from getting too high. As a possible alternative to those injections, MIT researchers are developing an implantable device that contains insulin-producing cells. The device encapsulates the cells, protecting them from immune rejection, and it also carries an onboard oxygen generator to keep the cells healthy.

    This device, the researchers hope, could offer a way to achieve long-term control of type 1 diabetes...

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