Human

Stem cell therapies are showing huge promise in a lot of areas, but one application that has scientists particularly excited is in next-generation treatments for Parkinson's disease. A team experimenting in this area has demonstrated how implanting carefully cultivated stem cells into rats can bring about remarkable recovery from motor symptoms typical of the disease, and are now setting their sights on upcoming human trials.Parkinson's disease is considered a prime target for innovative stem ell therapies because the…

The Human Target, the currently-running DC Comics Black Label series from writer Tom King, artist Greg Smallwood, and letterer Clayton Cowles, has followed titular Human Target Christopher Chance’s investigation into who attempted to poison Lex Luthor – and accidentally poisoned him instead, leaving him 12 days to identify his own killer. The ticking-clock search has focused on the former members of Justice League International, and today DC Comics announced Tales of the Human Target, a new 48-page prequel one-shot that…

Vision Scientists Revive Light-Sensing Cells in Organ Donor EyesAs part of a series of discoveries that stand to transform brain and vision research, scientists have revived light-sensing neuron cells in organ donor eyes and restored communication between them.Billions of neurons in the central nervous system transmit sensory information as electrical signals; in the eye, specialized neurons known as photoreceptors sense light.Publishing today (May 11, 2022) in the journal Nature, a team of researchers from the John A.…

An artist’s illustration of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in orbit. Credit: BoeingHuman research took precedence aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday as the seven-member Expedition 67 crew explored how living in space affects the human body. Meanwhile, Boeing’s first crew ship to visit the orbiting lab is targeted to launch late next week.Exercise research and a central nervous system study were the main experiments today helping doctors learn how to keep astronauts healthy and successful during…

Why is the Anglo-Saxon world so individualistic, and why has China leaned towards collectivism? Was it Adam Smith, or the Bill of Rights; communism and Mao? According to at least one economist, there might be an altogether more surprising explanation: the difference between wheat and rice. You see, it’s fairly straightforward for a lone farmer to sow wheat in soil and live off the harvest. Rice is a different affair: it requires extensive irrigation, which means cooperation across parcels of land, even centralised…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain A well-designed work-study program can boost human capital accumulation, with long-lasting, positive effects on participants' labor market outcomes, according to a study that analyzed "Yo Estudio y Trabajo" (YET), a program which provides students in Uruguay aged 16 to 20 with a first formal part-time work experience in state-owned companies for up to one year.…

The human brain is said to be the most complex biological structure ever to have existed. And while science doesn't fully understand the brain yet, researchers in the expanding field of neuroscience have been making progress.  Neuroscientists have made substantial inroads towards mapping the complex functions of the brain's 85 billion or so neurons and the 100 trillion connections between them. (To put this astronomical number into perspective, there are upwards of 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.)Enter…

A shortcut between the skull and the brain could be a possible way for the human immune system to bypass the blood-brain barrier.Researchers recently discovered a series of tiny channels in mice and human skulls, and in mice at least, these little pathways represent an unexpected source of brain immunity.  Previously, scientists assumed that the immune system connects with the brain by slipping through a kind of neurological customs gate – a barrier separating blood channels from important neural tissue.Now it seems…

The new multi-organ chip has the size of a glass microscope slide and allows the culture of up to four human engineered tissues, whose location and number can be tailored to the question being asked. These tissues are connected by vascular flow, but the presence of a selectively permeable endothelial barrier maintains their tissue-specific niche. Credit: Kacey Ronaldson-Bouchard/Columbia EngineeringMajor advance from Columbia Engineering team demonstrates the first multi-organ chip made of engineered human tissues linked…

Lunar soil has the potential to generate oxygen and fuel, a new Chinese study has revealed. Further elaborating on that, scientists have said, the lunar contains active compounds that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuels. The study further pointed out the soil can be used to obtain hydrogen and methane, which can power equipment and habitation in the earth's satellite.  The study, published in the journal Joule, comes at a time when several missions have planned to land…