Tag: medicine

The bodies of average men from around the world

“Todd, ” the digitally rendered man pictured at far left, is a physiologically average American male, his paunchy proportions based on averages from CDC anthropometric data . Beside him stand average men from Japan, the Netherlands and France. How do you stack up? Read more…        

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The bodies of average men from around the world

Transparent skull implant is the next step in body mods (and medicine)

Researchers have been kicking around the idea of a cranial porthole for years – a skylight for your skull that doctors could peer through to monitor brain cancer, or treat neurological disorders. But glass is too fragile, and traditional skull implants are opaque. Now, a team of bioengineers has developed an implant using a strong, transparent material that could make brain-windows a reality. Read more…        

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Transparent skull implant is the next step in body mods (and medicine)

New research suggests women can make sperm, and men can make eggs

What started as an investigation into developmental mouse biology has become a lot more than that. Biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi discovered a way to turn mouse skin cells into sperm and egg cells — and actually used these modified cells to create a living baby mouse. The question is, can it work in humans? Read more…        

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New research suggests women can make sperm, and men can make eggs

Scientists Just Grew Human Heart Tissue That Beats With Total Autonomy

Coming fresh on the heels of the news that scientists are successfully 3D printing live, working, mini human kidneys, a new report in Nature is giving another burst of hope to the future of organ transplants. For the very first time, a research team has been able to grow human heart tissue that beats totally autonomously in its petri dish home. Read more…        

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Scientists Just Grew Human Heart Tissue That Beats With Total Autonomy

Scientists May Have Found a Genomic Off Switch for Down Syndrome

One in every thousand or so babies born today will suffer from Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by the presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 that results in learning disabilities, a heightened risk of bowel and blood diseases, and a severely heightened risk of dementia later in life. But a radical new genome treatment method could hold the key to turning off that extra chromosome 21 like a light. Read more…        

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Scientists May Have Found a Genomic Off Switch for Down Syndrome

Man’s Parkinson’s disease symptoms vanish with the push of a button

In 2009, Andrew Johnson, 35, was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease. Last November, and again in February, he underwent a procedure, during which surgeons implanted a device in his brain that controls his tremors. Today, you’d never guess he suffers from Parkinson’s – but watch what happens when he turns his new implant off . Read more…        

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Man’s Parkinson’s disease symptoms vanish with the push of a button

Whole Human Brain Mapped In 3D

ananyo writes “An international group of neuroscientists has sliced, imaged and analysed the brain of a 65-year-old woman to create the most detailed map yet of a human brain in its entirety. The atlas, called ‘BigBrain,’ shows the organization of neurons with microscopic precision, which could help to clarify or even redefine the structure of brain regions obtained from decades-old anatomical studies (abstract). The atlas was compiled from 7,400 brain slices, each thinner than a human hair. Imaging the sections by microscope took a combined 1,000 hours and generated 10 terabytes of data. Supercomputers in Canada and Germany churned away for years reconstructing a three-dimensional volume from the images, and correcting for tears and wrinkles in individual sheets of tissue.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Whole Human Brain Mapped In 3D

A New Drug Could End Chronic Pain Forever

Treating pain is a tricky business—especially when it comes to the chronic, perpetually debilitating type. For things like back injuries, osteoarthritis, and bone cancer, you’re really only left with two options: deal with the often dangerous, unpredictable side-effects of prescription painkillers or suffer through it. But all that might change soon thanks to a Moroccan “cactuslike plant” and its toxin’s potential to kill localized pain—forever. Read more…        

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A New Drug Could End Chronic Pain Forever

This virtual dissection table is incredible [potentially NSFW]

When it comes to hands-on learning, I can think of no classroom more compelling than a gross anatomy lab , where students of the human form dissect actual bodies from head-to-toe with their own hands. That being said, this virtual dissection table is an awfully impressive stand-in for the real thing. Read more…        

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This virtual dissection table is incredible [potentially NSFW]