A drug already licensed for the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer effects of chemotherapy, can target an Achilles heel in prostate cancers with a weakness in their ability to repair damaged DNA. It is now on the verge of becoming approved as the first genetically targeted treatment for prostate cancer.

This precision medicine drug, a type of treatment called a PARP inhibitor which specifically targets cancer cells with faulty DNA repair genes, blocked prostate cancer growth more effectively than the modern targeted hormone treatments abiraterone and enzalutamide.

The final results from the PROfound trial, published in the journal the New England Journal of Medicine today (Tuesday), are...

New method turns foam into higher value rubber and hard plastics. Researchers have developed a new method for upcycling polyurethane foams, the spongy material found in mattresses, insulation, furniture cushions and shoes.

This process, developed by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota, first involves mixing postconsumer polyurethane foam waste with a catalyst solution that allows the foam to become malleable. Next, the method uses a “twin-screw” extrusion process that both removes air from the foam to create a new material in the shape of a hard, durable plastic or soft, flexible film as well as remolds the material.

This allows foam waste to be processed into higher quality ru...

Scientists have finally figured out the precise timing of a complicated dance between two enormous black holes, revealing hidden details about the physical characteristics of these mysterious cosmic objects.

Black holes aren’t stationary in space; in fact, they can be quite active in their movements. But because they are completely dark and can’t be observed directly, they’re not easy to study.

The OJ 287 galaxy hosts one of the largest black holes ever found, with over 18 billion times the mass of our...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of North Carolina in the USA have mapped out the cell types behind various brain disorders. The findings are published in Nature Genetics and offer a roadmap for the development of new therapies to target neurological and psychiatric disorders. One interesting finding was that cells from the gut’s nervous system are involved in Parkinson’s disease, indicating that the disease may start there.

The nervous system is composed of hundreds of different cell types with very different functions...