Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers report national estimates of 43.6 million COVID-19-associated illnesses and 101,300 deaths in the US during October 2022 to September 2023, plus 33.0 million illnesses and 100,800 deaths during October 2023 to September 2024. People 65 years and older accounted for the majority of hospitalizations and deaths. COVID-19 [...]
Progress in nanomedicine is almost as fast as the science is small. Over the last year, we've seen an abundance of headlines covering medical R&D at the nanoscale: polymer-coated nanoparticles targeting ovarian cancer, Albumin recruiting nanoparticles for mRNA vaccines, and therapies to reverse Alzheimer's in mice, to name a few. As we rush towards 2026, what might we see [...]
Capstan Therapeutics scientists demonstrate that lipid nanoparticles can engineer CAR T cells within the body without laboratory cell manufacturing and ex vivo expansion. The method using targeted lipid nanoparticles (tLNPs) is designed to deliver messenger RNA specifically to CD8+ T cells. CAR T therapy has revolutionized the treatment of B-cell cancers, with lasting remissions in [...]
Consciousness may emerge not from code, but from the way living brains physically compute. Discussions about consciousness often stall between two deeply rooted viewpoints. One is computational functionalism, which holds that cognition can be fully explained as abstract information processing. According to this view, if a system has the right functional organization (regardless of [...]
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human lung-on-chip model using stem cells taken from only one person. These chips simulate breathing motions and lung disease in an individual, holding promise for testing treatments for infections like tuberculosis (TB) and delivering personalized medicine. The research is published in the journal Science Advances. [...]
Living cells may generate electricity through the natural motion of their membranes. These fast electrical signals could play a role in how cells communicate and sense their surroundings. Scientists have proposed a new theoretical explanation for how living cells may generate electrical signals on their own. The idea centers on the cell membrane, the [...]
Researchers identify a shared RNA-protein interaction that could lead to broad-spectrum antiviral treatments for enteroviruses. A new study from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), published in Nature Communications, explains how enteroviruses begin reproducing inside human cells. These viruses include those responsible for polio, encephalitis, myocarditis, and the common cold, and they start infection [...]
Stimulating the liver to produce some of the signals of the thymus can reverse age-related declines in T-cell populations and enhance response to vaccination. As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell populations become smaller and can’t react to pathogens as quickly, making people more susceptible to a variety of infections. To [...]
A single nerve injury can quietly reshape the immune system across the entire body. Preclinical research from McGill University suggests that nerve injuries may lead to long-lasting changes in the immune system, and these effects appear to differ between males and females. Nerve damage is relatively common and can result from stretching, pressure, or [...]
New research reveals organized networks linking paper mills, intermediaries, and compromised academic journals Organized scientific fraud is becoming increasingly common, ranging from fabricated research to the buying and selling of authorship and citations, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The researchers conducted an in-depth examination of scientific misconduct by pairing large-scale analyses of [...]
