Novoheart has grown real, miniature hearts in jars that beat like the real thing
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Trying to demonstrate that new drugs don’t have any negative impacts on a patients heart is difficult, but this new technology provides research organisations with a fast, cheap way to test their new drugs without the risks. Beating rhythmically and suspended in a jar,...
New smartphone app lets users detect fatal heart conditions at home
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to detect fatal heart conditions before they kill you is a good thing… enough said. The most common type of Arrhythmia, a form of atrial fibrillation, is an irregular beating of the heart that can lead to stroke, blood clots, or heart...
World’s first stem cell bone tissue transplant is a success
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When patients loose part of a bone, for example, to Cancer, often there is no way to get the bones to grow or fuse together again resulting in amputation, this breakthrough will prevent that. Medical history was made at Emek Medical Center in Afula...
New hydrogel that mimics cartilage could transform knee surgeries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Hydrogels are proving to be an amazingly versatile material, and in this case they could help revolutionise how surgeons treat knee conditions and injuries. A new cartilage-like hydrogel material could make the job of repairing knees much easier, say a team of scientists in...
Ultrasound on a smartphone, Butterfly Network release the iQ
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Healthcare in many countries is expensive and difficult to access, tools like these help democratise access to vital services helping people live longer, healthier lives. Engineer Jonathan Rothberg became famous for creating the world’s first DNA sequencer on a chip called the Ion Torrent back in...
New Cancer “Vaccine” wipes out cancer in mice, human trials next
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cancer ruins millions of lives every year, but now, thanks to an army of researchers and new powerful technologies and tools it might just be possible we’re seeing a tiny chink of light at the end of the tunnel. The eradication of cancer has...
Scientists have reverse engineered the genome of a man who died 200 years ago
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many of today’s emerging technologies are aimed at keeping us alive, and helping edge us closer towards immortality, but what if we could bring our relatives back from the dead? Hans Jonatan was born in the Caribbean in 1784, migrated to Iceland in 1802, and...
FDA approves use of world’s first neuro controlled exoskeleton
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today millions of people in the world, for a variety of reasons, have trouble moving their bodies, but new brain controlled exoskeletons could help them regain their movement and rehabilitate them at the same time. People familiar with the Terminator series from the 1980’s...
Scientists observe epigenetic memories being passed down 14 generations
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The evidence that events experienced by our ancestors is passed down from them to us through our genes is mounting. The most important set of genetic instructions we all get comes from our DNA, passed down through generations, but increasingly, as I’ve discussed before, it’s...
Bioengineers hack biology to turn living tissue into any shape they want
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One of the largest ascending mega trends is Synthetic Biology, and as our command and understanding of the natural world increases it will help transform our world in ways you never thought possible. It turns out that many of the complex folded shapes that...
World first as Chinese scientists clone two monkeys, raising fears humans could be next
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF So far monkeys have proven resistant to cloning, but now that barrier has been broken, and many suggest it leaves the way open for a day when we can see the first cloned humans. Last week Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the world’s first...
Breakthrough genetic treatment slows the progression of Huntingdons Disease
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Huntingdons Disease is a debilitating condition that slowly kills a patients brain cells and there is no cure for it, now though a new treatment slows down its progression, and one day it might halt it altogether. This week people suffering from Huntington’s Disease...
Google’s AI is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of the human genome
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With the advent of personalised medicine and new revolutionary gene treatments, being able to interpret and make sense of the vast volumes of human genomic data in order to better predict disease indicators and outcomes, and provide patients with better treatments, will become increasingly crucial....
World’s first in vivo human gene editing trial goes without a hitch
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are tens of millions of people around the world with incurable inherited conditions and diseases, and being able to swap in new genes and replace faulty genes in vivo will be nothing less than revolutionary. In a world first researchers in the US...
AI can now identify your health problems but just looking at you
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Millions of people around the world go untreated because doctors can’t diagnose, or sometimes even see, their symptoms, but now AI can use photos to identify health conditions in seconds not days, weeks or years. Patient number two was born to first-time parents, late...
New Smart Bandage heals wounds faster and talks to your doctor
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Smart bandages that can heal wounds faster, identify disease and talk with doctors will help doctors track how well wounds are healing and help people heal faster When you think of medical 3D printing applications, and there are plenty of them to choose from,...
Scientists use magnetism to remotely control mice
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists ability to control mice remotely using magnetism could open up new avenues to treat a wide range of degenerative neurological disorders. An international group of scientists based at the Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences (BCAS) has, for the first time, demonstrated that...
Healing touch, Regenerative Medicine breakthrough reprograms skin cells
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tissue Nanotransference technology could help us heal organs quickly, and on demand, and put an end to the need for immunosuppressant drugs and the rejection of transplants This week scientists from Ohio State University announced a “breakthrough” in Regenerative medicine, the field of healthcare...
Scientists have built the world’s first biological ‘teleporter’
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We have reached the point where we can digitise life itself, albeit at a micro scale, and that opens up a whole host of new opportunities, from being able to create bespoke synthetic organisms to teleporting life across the universe. The chance of a...
Scientists found a way to selectively erase memories forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Imagine being able to forget memories at the flick of a switch, and now imagine the impact that would have on your life, good or bad. As scientists unravel the mysteries of the brain one day this will become science fact. One thing that...
