Scientists identify cause of multiple miscarriages for first time
Hopes of preventing women from suffering multiple miscarriages have been boosted after UK-based scientists have for the first time identified a cause.
Research into developing a treatment will be undertaken by the same academics behind the breakthrough research, which discovered that a lack of stem cells in the womb lining is causing thousands of women to suffer from recurrent miscarriages.
Engineers develop flexible skin that traps radar waves
Iowa State University engineers have developed a new flexible, stretchable and tunable “meta-skin” that uses rows of small, liquid-metal devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of radar.
The world’s oldest chameleon was just uncovered in a 99-million-year-old amber fossil
Researchers have just announced the discovery of one of the world’s oldest known chameleon specimen, which has been preserved in amber for almost 100 million years. The new find could help us better understand how chameleons evolved to be one of the strangest lizards in the modern world.
New drug ‘makes men regrow their hair’ in first human trial
Good news if you’re thin on top – or have lost the battle altogether – a new drug is ‘showing promise’ in making men regrow their hair.
And for once, the drug is actually working on humans, rather than mice or undersea worms or something equally irrelevant.
Scientists identify a virus and two bacteria that could be causing Alzheimer’s
An international group of 31 Alzheimer’s researchers has published an editorial urging the science world to change its focus when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. The message is clear – after a decade of failed attempts to treat and prevent the disease, it’s time to reassess the evidence that Alzheimer’s could be spread by microbes.
The editorial specifically implicates the herpes virus – the kind that causes cold sores – and two types of bacteria, all of which have already been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists just discovered plastic-eating bacteria
We manufacture over 300 million tonnes of plastics each year for use in everything from packaging to clothing. Their resilience is great when you want a product to last. But once discarded, plastics linger in the environment, littering streets, fields and oceans alike. Every corner of our planet has been blighted by our addiction to plastic. But now we may have some help to clean up the mess in the form of bacteria that have been found slowly munching away on discarded bottles in the sludge of a recycling centre.
Tumors contain the seeds of their own destruction
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in understanding how the genetic complexity of tumors can be recognized and exploited by the immune system, even when the disease is at its most advanced stages.
First gene for grey hair found
The first gene identified for greying hair has been discovered by an international study, confirming greying has a genetic component and is not just environmental. The study analyzed a population of over 6,000 people with varied ancestry across Latin America to identify new genes associated with hair color, greying, density and shape, i.e. straight or curly.