Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

NEWS ABOUT: medical research

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Obama Announces $100M Brain-Mapping Project

Set to devote $100M to initiative

(Newser) - President Obama today unveiled a major federal project to map out the human brain , discovering "how millions of brain cells interact," in the words of a White House scientist. Obama is directing $100 million toward the program, which has been compared to the Human Genome Project and could... More »

FDA Tweak Could Be Boon for Alzheimer's Drugs

Proposal could make it easier to get early-stage drugs OKed

(Newser) - Good news in the Alzheimer's arena: The FDA could ease the rules for approving new drugs to treat the disease, reports the New York Times . Under the proposed plan, the FDA would be able to OK drugs that returned improved results on memory or reasoning tests in clinical trials... More »

Tech Giants Fund Big Annual Award for Scientists

Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, will shell out $3M to each winner

(Newser) - Forget the Nobel Prize; pretty soon, enterprising medical researchers will really be after the Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize. Some of the biggest names in tech—including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin—have teamed to create the award, which rewards biological breakthroughs with fat, $3 million checks.... More »

Scientists Revive Bird Flu Research Amid Contagion Fear

But US funding not quite ready

(Newser) - Bird flu experts decided to shut down their research last year over government concerns that samples could cause contagion outside the lab. Now, some 40 scientists—in countries which have set up research guidelines—are set to dive back into their investigations, they say. The US hasn't established its... More »

NIH May Soon Retire Almost All Its Research Chimps

New recommendations would keep just 50 on hand

(Newser) - The National Institutes of Health could soon be letting most of its 451 research chimpanzees retire in sanctuaries, if new recommendations are put into effect. The NIH Council of Councils approved a report yesterday that unanimously recommends almost all the chimps should no longer be used for research, with just... More »

Simple Eye Scan Tracks Progress of MS

New tool could aid creation of new therapies

(Newser) - A quick and simple new test can help monitor how fast multiple sclerosis is progressing in patients, researchers say. The eye scan measures the thickness of the retina, which has been linked to the progress of the nervous system disease, reports the BBC . The course of MS can be unpredictable... More »

Leg Wound? Spray On New Skin

New technique helps heal leg ulcers: study

(Newser) - How do you heal an open wound? Try spray-on skin. US and Canadian scientists have developed a new technique that entails spraying a leg ulcer with a layer of donated skin cells and blood-clotting proteins, reports BBC . The researchers tested the spray on 228 people with the hard-to-treat leg wounds... More »

Star Trek-Style Needleless Injections Now a Reality

High-pressure jet designed for those who hate needles

(Newser) - It's like something out of Star Trek: a needleless injection that can deliver medicine painlessly (well, nearly painlessly). Researchers at MIT have unveiled a high-pressure jet for delivering medicines to a range of depths beneath the skin, reports the Daily Mail . "We think this kind of technology ... gets... More »

Bird Flu Study Shut Down Over Terrorism Fears

Scientists have already determined that it could go airborne

(Newser) - Researchers have temporarily shut down their investigations into a new, potentially devastating form of bird flu, giving in to widespread fear that terrorists might get their hands on the mutated virus. The researchers at Erasmus Medical College in the Netherlands have already determined that the strain, dubbed H5N1, is transmissible... More »

Babies' Foreskins Could End Animal Testing in Labs

Could one day be used to create artificial corneas, too

(Newser) - Babies' foreskins: The new wonder material? Maybe. They're already being used to make wrinkle creams , and now German scientists have developed a machine that uses the foreskin of young boys to grow artificial skin, reports the Local . For now, the researchers hope their innovation can be used for testing... More »

Medical Chimp-Testing May Be Over

Congress reviewing bill to ban all ape testing

(Newser) - Chimpanzees: valuable test subjects, or caged relatives who deserve better treatment? With a ban on all ape-testing now in Congress, the controversial practice dating back to the 1920s may soon be over, the New York Times reports. “Now is the time to get these chimps out of invasive research... More »

Scientists Debate Ending Chimp Research

Ethics, declining usefulness cited for the change

(Newser) - After years of using chimpanzees for scientific research—shooting them into space, testing hepatitis vaccines on them, using them for HIV studies—man's closest relative could be nearing retirement, reports the Washington Post . The European Union banned using chimps for scientific research last year, and now the Institute of... More »

New Test Predicts Alzheimer’s

Three markers in spinal fluid may help in development of treatment

(Newser) - The presence of certain biomarkers in spinal fluid can predict the development of Alzheimer's disease, even in patients who display no symptoms, according to breakthrough research being published tomorrow. "This is what everyone is looking for, the bull’s eye of perfect predictive accuracy," a doctor not connected... More »

Personality in First Grade Sticks for Life: Study

Personality traits persevere decades later

(Newser) - Chatty kids grow up to be intelligent adults, and children with low self-esteem remain insecure decades later, say researchers investigating how much personality changes with age. "We remain recognizably the same person," the study author tells LiveScience . "This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it... More »

Fertile Women Buy Sexier Clothes

But it's for the sake of other women

(Newser) - Women are more likely to pick out sexy clothes when they’re ovulating, particularly if they think they have competition for potential partners, scientists say. A new study says women subconsciously lean toward the skimpy and seductive if they’re ovulating and see other attractive women nearby. “In order... More »

Calcium Pills Tied to Jump in Heart Attack Risk: Study

Supplements don't prevent fractures, either

(Newser) - Calcium supplements may make heart attacks more likely in older patients, a new study suggests. Researchers looking to confirm calcium supplements' ability to prevent bone fractures instead found the patients taking the supplements were 30% more likely to suffer a heart attack, the BBC reports. And it turns out the... More »

Later School Start Time Means Happier Students

Adolescents need lots of sleep, have odd body clocks

(Newser) - Starting high school classes just 30 minutes later leads to marked improvement in students' moods and even their overall health, CNN reports . Teens need 8½ to 9¼ hours of sleep a night, and biological changes associated with adolescence mean they naturally fall asleep later than younger kids. In a small... More »

Cops Seize Shipment of Human Heads at Airport

Suspect a 'black market for body parts'

(Newser) - Police have seized a package of 40 to 60 human heads at the Little Rock airport. The heads were headed to a medical research company in Fort Worth, but they weren’t “labeled or packaged properly,” according to a spokesman for Southwest Airlines. An employee found them and... More »

White Rice Linked to Diabetes Risk

Brown rice lowers risk of developing disease; more study needed

(Newser) - People who frequently eat white rice are at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those who eat less than one serving a month. But rice isn't all bad: Eating the brown variety lowers the likelihood of developing the disease, new research shows. Replacing white rice serving-for-serving with brown... More »

Simple Test May Help Diagnose Autism Early

Stomach microbes could signal onset at 6 months old

(Newser) - Children with and without autism show marked differences in the makeup of their intestinal bacteria, and a simple urine test may help doctors diagnose the condition in children as young as 6 months old. Children typically aren't diagnosed until they're 2, delaying the start of intervention and other treatments. With... More »

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Timelines   |   POPSUGAR Tech   |   Business Insider   |   HuffPost Entertainment   |   NewsOne