Category Health/Medical

Silk could soon be used to produce more sensitive and flexible body sensors like this one. Credit: Yingying Zhang

From smart socks to workout clothes that measure exertion, wearable body sensors are becoming the latest “must-have” technology. Now scientists report they are on the cusp of using silk, one of the world’s most coveted fabrics, to develop a more sensitive and flexible generation of these multi-purpose devices that monitor a slew of body functions in real time. Yingying Zhang, Ph.D., says. “One possibility we foresee is for them to be used as an integrated wireless system that would allow doctors to more easily monitor patients remotely so that they can respond to their medical needs more rapidly than ever before.”

Body sensors, which are usually made with semiconductors, have s...

The latest research from Hiroshima University connecting DHA synthesis to estrogen production, and consequentially brain health, backs up further the old adage that a daily intake of fish oil is good for you. Credit: Yasuhiro Ishihara

Estrogen production in the brain has been directly linked to the presence of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is found in abundance in fish oils and is also synthesized from alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in some vegetable-based oils. The latest research from Hiroshima University connecting DHA synthesis to estrogen production, and consequentially brain health, backs up further the old adage that a daily intake of fish oil is good for you.

Assistant Professor Yasuhiro Ishihara, from HU’s Laboratory of Molecular Brain Science, keenly aw...

A gold nanostar under an electron microscope. The nanostar’s size causes it to accumulate within tumors, where researchers use infrared light to heat it and destroy cancerous growths. Credit: Tuan Vo-Dinh, Duke University

New treatment cures, vaccinates mouse in small proof-of-concept study. By combining an FDA-approved cancer immunotherapy with an emerging tumor-roasting nanotechnology, Duke University researchers improved the efficacy of both therapies in a proof-of-concept study using mice. The potent combination also attacked satellite tumors and distant cancerous cells, completely curing two mice and effectively vaccinating one against the disease. The results appeared online in Scientific Reports on August 17.

“The ideal cancer treatment is non-invasive, safe and uses multiple approa...

Playing basketball outside. Credit: © Kar Tr / Fotolia

A father-son research partnership has found that athletic prowess could be related to the length of your fingers.Grant Tomkinson, a professor of kinesiology and public health education department at the University of North Dakota, conducted research with his son Jordan, a junior at Sacred Heart School. They found that the ratio of the length of the second (“pointer”) finger and the length of the fourth (“ring”) finger – called the “digit ratio” – is favorably related to muscular strength in boys.

“Examine the fingers of your hand,” said Grant Tomkinson...