Articles
Old drugs, new purpose: The search for binge eating medication
Binge eating is an important feature of two serious mental health conditions: bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. While medication can be helpful in treating patients with these illnesses, currently just two drugs are approved for this purpose. Professor Susan McElroy of the Lindner Center of HOPE, Ohio, USA, leads research into potential new medications for binge eating conditions. Professor […]
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More than a just a simple powerhouse: Structure and function of mitochondria
Mitochondria are well-known as the “powerhouse” of the cell – but these organelles have many other vital functions. Mitochondria are also heterogeneous, differing in structure and function. Dr Kasturi Mitra of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, leads a research team focused on understanding the relationship between structure and function of mitochondria, in both health and disease. Dr Mitra’s […]
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NHS quality improvement could be driven by less formal regulation
In 2019 NHS Improvement and NHS England merged, becoming one major organisation responsible for regulating and improving the NHS system in England. But how best to do this, and improve quality of care and patient safety without increasing costs, is under debate. A comprehensive evaluation of a five year partnership between the English NHS and Virginia Mason Institute in the […]
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Cow genetics could reduce the environmental impact of pastoral livestock production
Dairy farming can have negative effects on the environment, polluting waterways with an excess of nitrogen that can have long-term impacts. Research to date has addressed this problem by looking at ways to reduce the cow’s urinary urea nitrogen concentration, but this has involved mitigation techniques that paint the cow as the problem rather than the solution. Cameron Marshall, a […]
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Rethinking the root of chronic headaches
Chronic headaches are a leading cause of health burden worldwide and are debilitating for people living with the condition. Pamela Blake, MD, Director of the Headache Center of River Oaks, and Carlton Perry, MD, River Oaks Plastic Surgery Center, are exploring the underlying cause of the condition in the hope of finding ways to provide patients with relief from constant […]
Slip sliding away: Landslides, earthquakes, rainfall and the Andes
Landslides are the most deadly secondary effect of earthquakes in mountainous regions. Dr Noélie Bontemps (Université Grenoble Alpes) has uncovered the secrets of a slow landside in Peru by monitoring post-seismic landslide dynamics in both the dry and wet seasons. GPS and seismic data confirm that in combination, earthquakes and rainfall cause greater landslide motion than either force alone. There […]
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Cities in motion: To make our urban future sustainable, reconsider car dependency
Mark Stevenson, Professor of Urban Transport and Public Health at the University of Melbourne, warns that an increasingly urbanised world will not be sustainable unless governments reduce reliance on privately owned automobiles. Evidence from Beijing and elsewhere shows that car use results in millions of deaths from road crashes, pollution and chronic diseases. Cities should instead encourage public transport, walking […]
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‘Mosquito method’ avoids crossed wires in optical circuitry
Electric circuitry – energy-wasting and prone to interference – is overdue an overhaul. In several industries optical fibres allow faster data transfers, and ‘fibre’ is becoming synonymous with ‘faster internet’. As technologies like cloud storage drive a desire for ever-increasing data transfer speeds, optical fibres are expected to make their way inside computers. This requires a new set of manufacturing […]
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Investigating the healing arts of Ancient Mesopotamia
Barbara Boeck, of the Institute for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, CSIC Madrid, has studied the cuneiform records of Ancient Mesopotamia to explore their healing methods. With a particular focus on medicinal plants and the practice of divination, she set out to discover how Babylonian practitioners treated their patients, what medicinal plants they recommended for which illnesses, and […]
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Birds prefer sound texture over sound order
How exactly do birds ‘talk’ to one another? And might research into how birds listen to birdsong help us understand communication both in humans and birds? Dr Robert Dooling and his team, based at the University of Maryland, USA, showed that – for zebra finches at least – the subtle nuances in sound texture or timbre are more important than […]