Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

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Human brains explore more to avoid losses than to seek gains

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09- ... gains.html

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Artificial cartilage senses arthritis pain, then morphs to block it
By Michael Franco
September 10, 2025

A squishy cartilage-like material has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge. It can be loaded up with either long-term or short-term pain killers that are released when the material senses chemical stress from arthritis.

One of the major issues with our joints as we age is that once the cartilage that cushions them degrades, it never grows back because it lacks a blood and nerve supply. This leads to pain, sometimes caused by bone-on-bone contact, and can eventually cause osteoarthritis which can lead to permanent joint dysfunction.

Means to repair or regrow cartilage artificially, however, could slow or even halt this process, and there are already some products on the market that function in this capacity.

https://newatlas.com/chronic-pain/artif ... arthritis/

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Promising new epilepsy drug delivers 80% reduction in seizures
By Bronwyn Thompson
September 11, 2025

A new drug candidate has shown impressive results in a mid-stage clinical trial for drug-resistant epilepsy, raising hopes for patients who continue to suffer seizures despite being on multiple medications.

Rapport Therapeutics has announced that its experimental compound RAP-219 reduced seizures by an average of 77.8% in a Phase 2a study, with almost a quarter of participants remaining seizure-free over the two-month treatment period.

The trial enrolled 30 adults with focal onset seizures, also known as partial seizures – a common form of epilepsy marked by how electrical activity begins in one part of the brain. All participants were fitted with an implanted responsive neurostimulation (RNS) device, which continuously monitored brain activity and allowed researchers to measure clinical seizures and an objective electrographic marker called “long episodes.”

https://newatlas.com/disease/epilepsy-d ... -seizures/

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Partnership with Kenya's Turkana community helps scientists discover genes involved in adaptation to desert living

https://phys.org/news/2025-09-partnersh ... tists.html

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What the science says about dairy in diet amid RFK Jr. wanting to expand guidelines

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ ... r-AA1INNfw

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A new look at how the brain works reveals that wiring isn't everything

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09- ... -isnt.html

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From memory to melody: How positive memories elevate musical performance

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09- ... evate.html

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Lung-on-a-chip with working immune system protects itself like a living organ
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09- ... mmune.html
by Michelle Azriel, Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt researchers have built the first lung-on-a-chip with a working immune system, a breakthrough with the potential to reshape how we study disease, move beyond animal testing, and administer lifesaving therapies. The work is published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

On a clear polymer chip, soft and pliable like a gummy bear, a microscopic lung comes alive—expanding, circulating, and, for the first time, protecting itself like a living organ.

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Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time | BBC News

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Theoretical model uses neuroimaging data to link brain alterations to schizophrenia

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09- ... renia.html

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Artificial neuron melds electronics and biology to function like the real thing
By Paul McClure
September 30, 2025
https://newatlas.com/medical-tech/artif ... ectronics/

Scientists have built an artificial neuron that’s so realistic it fires, learns, and responds to chemical signals just like the real thing – a breakthrough that could transform computing, medicine, and the way that tech merges with biology.

Neurons are incredible pieces of biological hardware that enable complex processes like thought, emotion, and movement via specialized communication across vast networks using electrical and chemical signals. It’s little wonder that science is keen to emulate these highly efficient and extremely effective cells.

Now, a team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst has created an artificial neuron that doesn’t just mimic how real neurons behave, but also matches them in size, energy use, signal strength, timing, and responsiveness to chemical signals.

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Scientists win Nobel Prize for discovering why immune system does not destroy the body

6 October 2025, 11:00 BST

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 has been awarded for discoveries that explain how the immune system attacks hostile infections, but not the body's own cells.

The prize is shared by Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US researchers Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell.

They discovered "security guards" that eliminate parts of the immune system that could attack the body.

Their work is being used to develop new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor (£870,000).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2knwvpd7vno

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Scientists Are Testing a Vaccine for Food Poisoning. It Can’t Come Soon Enough
University of Maryland researchers are developing a vaccine that targets the dangerous foodborne bug, Salmonella.

https://gizmodo.com/salmonella-vaccine- ... 2000669760
By Ed Cara
Published October 9, 2025

Few things in this world are more miserable than food poisoning. You go out to eat some delicious foods, or cook at home. You’re happy, full, and then… everything goes south. Sometimes literally.

But hark! This torturous fate may soon be vanquished, thanks to some scientists at the University of Maryland who might just have created a vaccine that protects against Salmonella bacteria, one of the most common sources of foodborne illness and potentially life-threatening infections.

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