Category Health/Medical

Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. Credit: Duke University

Researchers have developed a method to swiftly the non-coding DNA of the human genome for links to diseases that are driven by changes in gene regulation. The technique could revolutionize modern medicine’s understanding of the genetically inherited risks of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, neurological disorders and others, and lead to new treatments.

“Identifying single mutations that cause rare, devastating diseases like muscular dystrophy has become relatively straightforward,” said Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University...

Just five more minutes … can a coffee before a nap really help you pay back your sleep debt? Credit: www.shutterstock.com

Taking a nap is a common way of overcoming your sleepiness and repaying your sleep debt. Drinking coffee can also help us get through the day. In a 1997 study, 12 sleep-deprived people drank the equivalent of one large cup of brewed coffee and 5 minutes later had the chance to nap for 15 minutes. They then did some driving tests in a simulator to check their alertness. Although drinking a coffee (without a nap) helped their driving performance, combining caffeine with a nap (a coffee nap) improved it even further...

Unusually weak neural responses (yellow spot) in the anterior cingulate cortex: autistic people find it hard to imagine themselves in somebody else’s position. Credit: Joshua Balsters / ETH Zurich

Brain researchers at ETH Zurich and other universities have shown for the first time that a region of the brain associated with empathy only activates very weakly in autistic people. This knowledge could help to develop new therapies for those affected by autism. Professor Nicole Wenderoth and her senior scientist Joshua Balsters have used fMRI from autistic adolescents to discover unusual activity in a particular region of the brain, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

The researchers were aware that activity in this part of the brain is coupled with the “theory of mind”, which makes it possi...

Schematic illustration of an on-site water purification system for rural communities. Powered by solar panels, the low-cost, portable device produces hydrogen peroxide from oxygen gas and water. Credit: Zhihua Chen/Stanford University

Many disease-causing organisms and organic pollutants can be quickly removed from water using H2O2 without leaving any harmful residual chemicals. However, producing and distributing hydrogen peroxide is a challenge in many parts of the world. Now scientists at the Dept of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a small device for hydrogen peroxide production that could be powered by renewable energy sources, like conventional solar panels.

“The idea is to develop an electrochemical cell that generates hydrogen perox...