Personalized cancer treatments based on testing drugs quickly leads to faster treatment, better outcomes

Functional precision medicine works to take the guesswork out of deciding which drug to try next for patients with cancers that don’t respond to standard treatments.

Diana Azzam, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Florida International University • conversation
April 11, 2024 ~7 min

Newly discovered genetic variant that causes Parkinson’s disease clarifies why the condition develops and how to halt it

No treatments are currently available to cure Parkinson’s disease. Better understanding the genetic foundation of this condition can help researchers find ways to slow or halt its progression.

Matthew Farrer, Professor of Neurology, University of Florida • conversation
April 10, 2024 ~10 min


Fossilized dinosaur eggshells can preserve amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, over millions of years

Calcite, the material making up fossilized eggshells, may preserve amino acids better than bone.

Evan Thomas Saitta, Postdoctoral Scholar in Paleontology, University of Chicago • conversation
April 9, 2024 ~9 min

How food preferences are linked to cognition and brain health – and why a balanced diet is superior

Vegetarian and low-carb diets aren’t ideal for our brains.

Wei Cheng, Young Principal Investigator of Neuroscience, Fudan University • conversation
April 3, 2024 ~9 min

Could a couple of Thai otters have helped the UK’s otter population recover? Our study provides a hint

Research has revealed how British otters may have been able to recover from species loss in the 1950s with the help of otters from Asia.

Sarah du Plessis, PhD Candidate, Cardiff University • conversation
Feb. 27, 2024 ~6 min

Men become less fertile with age, but the same isn’t true for all animals – new study

Understanding how the ageing of sperm works in other animals is more important than ever as human male fertility is in decline.

Regina Vega-Trejo, Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Evolutionary Biology, University of Oxford • conversation
Feb. 14, 2024 ~8 min

‘Jaws’ portrayed sharks as monsters 50 years ago, but it also inspired a generation of shark scientists

‘Jaws,’ published in 1974, terrified the public of sharks, but it also brought shark research into the scientific mainstream.

Gavin Naylor, Director of Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida • conversation
Jan. 31, 2024 ~10 min

Alcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work – research is investigating how to counteract addiction's effects

Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of addiction can change how researchers and clinicians approach treatments.

Karla Kaun, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Brown University • conversation
Jan. 22, 2024 ~8 min


DNA from stone age chewing gum sheds light on diet and disease in Scandinavia's ancient hunter-gatherers

Genetic analysis reveals one of the teenagers probably had advanced gum disease.

Emrah Kırdök, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Mersin University • conversation
Jan. 18, 2024 ~7 min

Why don't fruit bats get diabetes? New understanding of how they've adapted to a high-sugar diet could lead to treatments for people

Fruit bats can eat up to twice their body weight in fruit a day. But their genes and cells evolved to process all that sugar without any heath consequences − a feat drug developers can learn from.

Nadav Ahituv, Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences; Director, Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco • conversation
Jan. 9, 2024 ~7 min

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