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Scientists describe method to create morphine at home

Scientists have managed how to create morphine using a kit like the ones used to make beer at home. They used genetically modified yeast to perform the complicated process of turning sugar into morphine, and while they believe this can have huge medical significance, they also express concerns about "homebrewed" drugs.

Researchers home in on speech center in the brain

Researchers have long theorized that the superior temporal sulcus (STS) is involved in processing speech rhythms, but it's only recently that this has been confirmed by a team at Duke University. Their findings show that the STS is sensitive to the timing of speech, a crucial element of spoken language. This could help further our understanding of how some speech-impairing conditions arise in the brain, or aid tutors design next-generation, computer assisted foreign language courses.

Sea Turtle gets a new 3D-printed titanium jaw after being hit by a boat's propeller

A turtle named Akut-3 was fitted with a new, custom made 3-D printed jaw by doctors at the Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation centre at Pamukkale University in Denizli, Turkey. The reptile was found badly injured at sea and brought to the center for rehabilitation. At first, the doctors healed the turtle's wounds and hand fed her, but they knew they had to turn to something more drastic if the animal was to ever fend for herself in the wild again. They turned to a company in Turkey known for custom made prostheses, gave them a detailed CT scan of the turtle's skull, then received a new beak made out of medical-grade titanium. The prosthesis perfectly fit Akut-3, who is aptly named like a cyborg.

Your hand shake is an indicator of your heart's health

You can find out a lot about a man by his handshake - about his personality, his feelings towards you, or... his heart health. According to a new Canadian study, a firm handshake is a reliable indicator of good health; they actually want to use handshake tests as initial ways to gauge the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Making computers 'tick' like the human brain: a breakthrough moment

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara made a simple neural circuit comprised of 100 artificial synapses, which they used to classify three letters by their images, despite font changes and noise introduced into the image. The researchers claim the rudimentary, yet effective circuit processes the text much in the same way as the human brain does. In other words, like you're currently interpreting the text in this article. Even if you change the font, printscreen this article and splash it with an airbrush in MS Paint, you'll still be able to read at least portions of it, because the human brain is so great at scaling patterns and abstracting symbols. This kind of research will hopefully usher in a new age of more refined, energy efficient computing.

A lung cancer vaccine made in Cuba will begin clinical trials in the US

Cuba, famous for its rum and cigars, might be one of the unlikeliest places people think of when cutting-edge biotech research is concerned. Despite economic sanctions and embargoes set forth by the US and partners, the country's medical research institutes boasts some impressive results, particularly in immunization. One prime example is a lung cancer vaccine developed at Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology which increases life expectancy by up to six months. Now, the Roswell Park Cancer has signed an agreement with the Cuban medical center to finally bring the vaccine to the US for clinical trials.

Autism symptoms dramatically improved after treatment with Vitamin D

There's a growing body of evidence suggesting Vitamin D plays an important role in regulating serotonin. This means it could cause (deficiency) or treat Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms (supplement). For instance, one study prescribed Vitamin D3 to autistic children in an open trial and had a 80% success rate - that is, the children became less hyperactive, irritable, and engaged far less in stereotypical behavior. The children were also more responsive and compliant to their families.

A trip to Mars might incur permanent brain damage from cosmic rays

Researchers at University of California Irvine exposed mice to radiation similar to the cosmic rays that permeate space and found the animals experienced declines in cognition and changes in the structure and integrity of brain nerve cells and the synapses where nerve impulses are sent and received. The mice became easily confused and lost their tendency to explore new environments. Similar cognitive impairments are likely to be felt by astronauts traveling to Mars, according to the researchers. Even with shielding, the effects of cosmic rays exposure are sure to be noticed, considering the journey to Mars lasts six to eight months. This without counting the time spent on the red planet and the journey back home.

There may not be such a thing as autism epidemic - the explanation might lie in the diagnosis

Over the last couple of years, cases of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) increased by 30%, according to a reported issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, the CDC estimates that one in 150 8-year-olds in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. There's a whole debate surrounding this topic - where does this slew of new cases come from? Are we dealing with an epidemic-like event? It used to be vaccines that took the hit, but this was long debunked. There's another, maybe more plausible explanation: it's all a statistical mishap as far as diagnosis goes. In effect, if this is true, ASDs prevalence is stable, it's in the way we count the cases that the problem might lie.

Free choice and monkeys: researchers record the moment a mind is changed

Free will is considered the domain of philosophers, but this long lasting question might actually be put to rest by neuroscience. In a most intriguing research, a team at Stanford analyzed the key brain motor patterns in monkeys as they made specific decisions, and eventually recorded the moment-by-moment patterns that lead to change of mind. Apart from its philosophical implications, which really might never be settled, the findings prove extremely useful for brain-computer interfaces and the likes. Controlling robotic arms with your thoughts, or just about anything really, is no longer a provision of science fiction. Still, this basic neuroscience discovery could be used to improve brain-computer algorithms and thus refine control of thought controlled prostheses such that a robotic arm or leg might be moved only when the user is certain of its decisions, thereby avoiding premature or inopportune moments.

Your smartphone will be able to tell if you have blood parasites

Scientists have managed to use a simple smartphone to test for blood parasites; the device and app was successful in small trials in Cameroon.

The white thing that sometime appears on chocolate? Scientists studied it with X-Rays

Chocolate is the favorite food of many people throughout the world, bringing joy and happiness into our mouths, one square at a time. But when a whitish coating appears on its surface, most people would think twice before eating. That coating, called chocolate bloom, is actually harmless, but it drastically reduces the visual appeal of […]

Fight fire with fire: toxic gut bacteria used against itself

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can cause numerous medical problems, including colitis or colon inflammation; in severe cases, it can actually be fatal. Now, doctors have tried a new approach in dealing with it - they tried not to eliminate it, but to replace it with its friendlier cousins.

Scientists make muscles out of gold plated onions

When it comes to artificial muscles, researchers at from National Taiwan University really know their onions. The team applied an uncanny design in which they layered gold atop the treated skin of onions. Once an electrical current was discharged, the "onion muscle" contracted and bent, just like the real thing. There's a whole slew of possible applications for artificial muscles, from so-called "soft robotics" (flesh-like droids), to of course helping injured humans.

Is sleepwalking genetic? Study suggests it runs in the family

Canadian researchers found that kids born out of parents with a history of sleepwalking are more likely to experience somnambulism. They found 60% of kids whose both parents reported sleepwalking also took slumbering walks in the middle of the night, or seven times more likely than kids whose parents had no history of sleepwalking. Children with only one sleepwalking parent were three time more likely to sleep walk.

Of beards, feces and clickbait

Some news outlets were quick to label beards as toilets. I disagree.

Scans reveal what happens in your brain during an out-of-body experience

Neuroscientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have created an out-of-body illusion in participants placed inside a brain scanner to see what happens in the brain during this time.

Swap a sweet drink for water and you get a 25% lower chance of diabetes

Swapping out a single daily sweet drink for water or unsweetened tea or coffee can lower the risk of diabetes by up to 25%, a new research suggests.

9 Foods to Make Sure You're Eating Enough Potassium

Potassium is one of the more important nutrients in our diet, and the recommended daily dietary intake is 4700mg – but few of us actually get even close to that figure (you may need more or less potassium depending on your body and if you have certain medical conditions). Sure, you can take dietary supplements, but […]

Creative agency makes ink from smokers' lungs; increases interest in quitting by 500%

For most smokers, the message that cigarettes are fatally bad for their health often doesn't come across. But if that message came written in ink made from pitch black lungs? It's a morbid concept, one that was actually followed through by BBDO Proximity Thailand, an agency which commissioned the charcoal ink, part of an anti-smoking effort for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.

After cancer ate out his face, this 74-year-old now uses a 3-D printed mask. Photos speak for themselves

Since 1990, Keith Londsdale went through no less than 45 different surgical procedures to remove basal cell carcinoma tumors, one of the most common skin cancers. The man survived the ordeal, but was left deformed as doctors had to remove his nose, upper jawbone and cheekbones. Basically, the 74-year-old-man now has a huge hole in his face.

Teens: Forget the salt, eat more bananas

In the modern world, we tend to eat more salt than we should, and that can have several negative impacts on our body, including higher blood pressure – or so we thought. But a new study on teenage girls found that salt has no negative effect on blood pressure; bananas do. “It may be that […]

Genetically modifying human embryos: 'a line that should not be crossed,' NIH says

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reiterated its stance against modifying human embryos, after a paper published last week by Chinese researchers reported how they modified the DNA of human embryos to eradicate certain inheritable diseases from the lineage. Modifying human embryos was banned in 1996 for US government bodies, but in some states private entities are allowed to carry out such research.

Three babies' lives saved by 4-D printed implant from otherwise incurable breathing disease

Three babies aged six to eighteen months suffering from an incurable breathing condition were saved by doctors who printed a 3-D implant. The implant is made out of a special biodegradable plastic that dissolves in three years (just enough incidentally for kids to be out of harms way permanently). It's also designed to grow and expand as the babies age, hence it's called a 4-D printed implant since time is considered an additional dimension, in this case.

Childhood bullying has worse effects than adult maltreatment

Childhood bullying seems to be almost ubiquitous to some extent, and yet researchers have time and time again underlined the negative effects it can have. Now, a new study has concluded that kids who were bullied by their peers suffer worse in the long term than those who were maltreated by adults. The research was […]

WHO: The world is not prepared to deal with antibiotic resistance

Drug-resistant bacteria are one of the biggest challenges mankind has to face in the near, as well as distant, future. In a recent survey conducted by the World Health Organization it was revealed that only 34 out of 133 questioned countries have even a basic plan to combat the misuse of antibiotics fuelling drug resistance and encouraging the development of superbugs.

New Cancer Treatment Dissolves a Woman's Tumor in 3 Weeks

You hear about potential cancer treatments all the time, and despite significant and remarkable improvements, we're still miles away from an actual cure for cancer; so what makes this therapy so great? Well... it just seems to work - on humans, suffering from cancer, not in a lab. For one woman, it seems to have completely dissolved a big tumor in just three weeks, and overall, 53% of patients experienced at least 80% tumor shrinkage.

There's a reset trigger for your biological clock - bye, bye jet lag, insomnia and exhaustion

While humans have invented a convention called time keeping to make society work, our bodies themselves also have a sort of clock called an internal biologic clock or circadian rhythm. When met by daylight, hormones are released that keep us awake and alert, while darkness releases different hormones that puts us to sleep. Canadian researchers have now found the molecular switch that resets and synchronizes the circadian clock. A drug that tweaks this switch could thus be made that regulates the internal clock, something travelers and night owls might find particularly useful.

Gamers have more grey matter and better brain connectivity, new research suggests

All those hours of leveling up your character have finally paid off - a new study conducted by Australian and Chinese researchers suggests that playing computer games not only increases the amount of grey matter in your brain, but also promotes better connectivity between different areas of the brain.

Smiley face labels can encourage kids to eat healthier food

An innovative study suggests that something as small as labeling healthy foods with a small smiley face can make kids more interested in buying and consuming healthy food.

Why you have floating things in your eyes

If you ever stared into the blue sky or even a blank computer screen, you might have noticed there are some  strange blobs floating through the field of vision.  These might look like black or gray specks, strings or cobwebs that drift about when you move your eyes, but kind of disappear when you try to concentrate your vision directly onto them. So, what are we actually seeing? Time to dispel another childhood superpower. No, these aren't aliens trying to make contact or microbes. Nor are they hallucinations, for make no mistake the spots are completely real and there. These spots in your vision are called by doctors eye floaters and are caused by the  blue field entoptic phenomenon.

Experiment made people feel like they're invisible

We've all had days when we've felt invisible metaphorically, but Swedish researchers have taken it to the next level - they've made a man actually feel like he's invisible.

Blowing vapor: cigarette use plummets among youth in schools, but e-cigs take their place

Electronic cigarettes have soared in use among high school and middle school kids, tripling relative in 2014, while cigarettes have reached an all time low. The report was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found 4.6 million middle and high school students were current users of any tobacco product, which includes e-cigs despite the fact that it doesn't burn or contain any tobacco - just the nicotine.

Nanotech toothbrush means you never need toothpaste again

It's common sense - in order to brush your teeth, you need water, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. Well, a company from Japan wants to change all that: they've developed a nanotechnology toothbrush that basically eliminates the need for toothpaste.

Why the Dutch are the tallest on the planet: sexual selection

European males are on average 11 centimeters taller now than they were in the 1870s, which is quite a lot by all means. Everybody makes fun of Napoleon for being short, but as a matter of fact he was actually standing above average height! Thank better nutrition and medicine for that. Even so, what in the world are the Dutch eating that makes them this tall? The average Dutchman now stands over six feet tall, and while the rest of the world seems to have stopped, they're still riding a growing trendline. The answer by actually be evolutionary - the tall Dutchmen have more babies.

The neurological condition that makes Hodor keep Hodoring

"Hodor. Hodor, hodor; hodor hodor... hodor" said Hodor.

Kid doesn't like going to school? Your 'bad' genes might have a say in all this

Some kids seem to enjoy school activities more than others, but while efforts seem to be concentrated on improving teaching, a new research suggests that genes play a major role as well - sometimes they're more important than the environment, as far as motivation and doing well in school are concerned. The findings were reported by a team led Yulia Kovas of Goldsmiths, University of London that aggregated a swath of studies which included 13,000 twins aged nine to 16 from six countries, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Russia and the US.

Shorter people are more likely to get heart disease - every inch counts

The same genes that are responsible for height have been linked to heart disease as well, according to British researchers who found shorter people are at a greater risk. For every 2.5 inch difference in height, the chance of contracting a heart disease increases by 13.5 percent. In other words, a 5-foot-tall person has an average 32 percent higher risk of heart disease than a person who's 5-foot 6-inches tall, according to the researchers.

Psychedelic tea might help with depression

Hallucinogenic tea brewed from South American plants might treat depression, according to a new study - but don't start your homebrewing just yet; it's a small study, and there are still unclear aspects about it.

Arachnophobia may be embedded in your DNA

Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias humans have. But out of all the spiders that live today, really very few are dangerous - so why is it that we fear them so much then? Researchers from Columbia University believe they might have found the answer to that - and it's strictly related to human evolution.

Presenting the first brain-gene interface: thought-controlled protein production

You've heard all about controlling robotic arms or prosthesis with thoughts, but what about genes? In a deceptively simple experiment, bioengineers in Switzerland combined a classical brain-computer interface with a biological implant, which effectively allowed a genetic switch to be operated by brain activity. Imagine wearing a "funny" cap fitted with electrodes and a tiny implant, then controlling your mood by thinking the perfect "pure" thoughts that would cause a cascade of feel good chemicals. The same could be made for painkillers, so you can deliver just the right amount. Really, there's a lot of potential floating around this thing.

The ultimate bandaid: synthetic spider silk

There aren't blood vessels you're seeing, but itsy bitsy strands of artificial spider silk. For some years, researchers have been investigating synthesizing spider silk for a variety of very good reasons. Spider silk is the toughest known natural material, and has been explored in its synthetic variety for use as bulletproof vests, synthetic skin, biodegradable water bottles and even computer electronics. These strands presented above, however, serve a different purpose: as a bandaid meant to help regenerate skin and heal wounds.

Diets aren't as good as they claim to be - even the fancy ones

"Lose weight NOW", "You'll never believe how [this person] got slim", "An easy way to lose extra pounds" - big claims, with little to back them up. Diets and weight loss programs are popping everywhere nowadays, and they've done so for years and years, but does the science actually back them up? Kimberly Gudzune, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins found that many diet plans have zero or very little rigorous scientific evidence backing them up.

Is this Einstein or Marilyn Monroe? Test your eyesight

This hybrid image combines low spatial components of a photo of Marilyn Monroe and high spatial frequency components of an image of Albert Einstein. At lower resolution (look at your computer screen from farther away), the low spatial component is more dominant, while at closer up the higher frequency should be more persistent. So, as the image gradually enlarges people with good eyesight should see Albert Einstein, while those with poor vision will pick up a blurry image, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who made the optical illusion.

Homes cleaned with bleach linked to higher rate of infection in children

Homes cleaned at least once a week with bleach might provide an environment that puts children at a higher risk of catching viral infections. The observational study suggests the modest, yet significant higher risk of infection may be due to a suppression of the immune system. Also, it might very well be due to the irritant properties of volatile or airborne compounds generated during the cleaning process that can damage the lining of lung cells, sparking inflammation and making it easier for infections to take hold.

DNA blood test can detect Down Syndrome more accurately than standard tests

A new test analyzes the free DNA inside the blood of pregnant women to detect Down Syndrome in fetuses with a greater accuracy than standard tests. The test can be made by women between 10 and 14 weeks pregnant.

Over 100 child paralysis cases linked to new Enterovirus strain

Most of the 100 children hospitalized with acute flaccid myelitis haven't recovered from paralysis and weak limbs. CC BY-NC 2.0

Dentists will soon be able to 3D print you a new tooth in minutes

With the advancements in 3D printing, it only seems like a matter of time until it starts to actively affect our lives. Especially prosthetics may be revolutionized by 3D printing, as we've already seen time and time again. Now, a group of dentists believe they can 3D print teeth using a simple and cheap technique, only taking a few minutes for it.

Simple way of cooking rice could halve its calories

I know, the title sounds like one of those scams that promise you'll lose weight - but this is all science all the way. Researchers in Sri Lanka have found a simple way of cooking the rice that not only reduces calories by half, but also provides other health benefits. The key addition is coconut oil.

High-fat diet might put your mental health at risk

Mice that had gut bacteria transferred from other mice fed with a high fat diet changed their behavior in a negative way, exhibiting anxiety or impaired memory. The findings suggest that apart from heart disease and stroke, obesity might put people's mental health at risk as well.
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