Health

a stylized image of a person injecting themselves with a GLP-1 agonist

Are weight-loss meds the next wonder drugs?

Evidence is mounting that GLP-1 agonists could treat many health issues — including ones that aren’t obviously related to weight.

Kristin Houser

A surgeon in scrubs and a headlamp performs a gene-edited pig kidney transplant, assisted by another healthcare professional, under bright surgical lights.

Surgery

First-of-its-kind pig kidney transplant is a success

A woman with heart and kidney failure is now the second person in the world to undergo a gene-edited pig kidney transplant.

Kristin Houser

white pills being poured from a milk container over a black background

Medicine

Milk could overcome one of the biggest hurdles to RNA therapies

RNA therapies typically break down if administered orally, but particles found in cows’ milk could provide perfect protection.

Kristin Houser

Drugs

Does caffeine harm your decision-making?

A small study showed caffeine lessens decision-making. While preliminary, it raises questions about caffeine affects our "higher" cognitive functions.

Kevin Dickinson

Vaccines

Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine works even better than thought

Adding Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine to a standard melanoma treatment dramatically reduces the risk of death or recurrence.

Kristin Houser

A collage of a hand and various health-related items, including pills, vials, and petri dishes, to represent clinical trials

Medicine

The 5 most exciting clinical trial results of 2023

In 2023, several potentially game-changing meds, including ones to treat pain and high cholesterol, showed huge promise in human trials.

Kristin Houser

A silhouette of a person's head with a colorful background.

Cancer

Chemobrain is real. Here’s what to expect after cancer treatment.

Chemobrain, or chemofog, can significantly affect cancer survivors' quality of life with its social, psychological, and economic impacts.

Anton Isaacs

A man sitting at a table with a semaglutide injection in hand.

Healthcare

Professor Giles Yeo on making sense of anti-obesity drugs

Anti-obesity drugs have been in the news, and for good reason; they seem to work. Giles Yeo talks us through some misconceptions at play.

Jonny Thomson

A picture of a boy playing a drum and reactive neurons in the brain.

Neurodiversity

How music therapy benefits the autistic brain

While the benefits of music therapy are well known, more in-depth research explores how music benefits children with autism.

Jaimee Bell

A diagram of DNA strands overlaid with calculations from the AI mentioned in the article.

Cancer

New AI predicts cancer survival using epigenetics

Researchers from the UCLA train an AI to use epigenetics to predict clinical outcomes for cancer patients.

Kevin Dickinson

a woman getting a mammogram while another one performs the screening

Cancer

Walmart now has mammograms, analyzed with AI

Shoppers can now get mammograms at a Walmart in Delaware — and more of the walk-in clinics are set to open in 2024.

Kristin Houser

A collage of people's faces and genome sequences.

Genetics

Untangling the genetics that underlie our facial features

Hundreds, if not thousands, of genes affect the shape of the face, in subtle ways. Researchers explain why, and how, we look like our family.

Bob Holmes | Knowable Magazine

collage featuring orchids, a fetus in a womb, and genome readings

Fertility

Startup can now screen IVF embryos for 1000+ diseases

Startup Orchid now offers whole genome sequencing for embryos used during IVF — but not everyone is convinced it’s worth the cost.

Kristin Houser

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