Non-antibiotic cures for cows could speed up treatments for people

Mastitis, a bacterial infection that leads to inflammation of a cow's mammary glands and udders, has long been a scourge of the dairy industry. Image credit - Tomasz Jagielski, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

by Gareth Willmer As the global antibiotic resistance crisis grows, chemical-based aerosol sprays and electrical signals to wake up the immune system are being developed to treat cow infections. These non-antibiotic therapies for livestock could also help to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance through the human food chain. The animal sector, which uses drugs … Read more

Is 5G bad for your health? It’s complicated, say researchers

The radiation emitted by 5G will largely be the same as previous networks, except that it will be exposing us to something called milimetre waves for the first time. Image credit - Flickr/ Kārlis Dambrāns, licensed under CC BY 2.0

by Tom Cassauwers The fifth generation of mobile internet is fast approaching. Countries such as Switzerland, the UK and Germany are already rolling out next generation networks. 5G is projected to be 100 times faster than 4G and would allow new technologies such as connected cars and augmented reality to flourish. But despite the big … Read more

Bacteria passed from mother to baby may play a role in later health

It is believed that the composition of gut bacteria in newborn babies is a strong indicator of future health. Image credit - Pixabay/ blankita_ua, image under Pixabay license

by Vittoria d’Alessio The bacteria and viruses a baby inherit from its mother play a crucial role in determining the child’s health in later life, according to research that could lead to new interventions to tackle conditions like obesity, allergies and colic. If your mother was obese, there is a good chance you will be … Read more

Better understanding sensory perception could help people with autism and dyslexia

Investigating less-studied neural structures is revealing insights which could explain dyslexia. Image credit: Pezibear/Pixabay, licensed under Pixabay licence

by Jules Montague Deciphering how the brain processes sight and hearing could have implications for how we understand and treat conditions such as dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia. During her postdoctoral studies, neuroscientist Katharina von Kriegstein was running experiments to see how hearing and voice recognition activated the brain’s auditory areas when she got a surprising … Read more

Shoe-mounted laser to ‘unfreeze’ people with Parkinson’s scoops €1 million prize

Having an external visual cue such as a line has been shown to reduce the number of freezing episodes in Parkinson's patients. Image credit - Walk With Path

A shoe-mounted laser beam that helps people with Parkinson’s disease ‘unfreeze’ by shining a green line in front of their feet has been awarded the EU’s €1 million Horizon Prize for Social Innovation. The Path Finder device was invented in 2014 by Danish entrepreneur Lise Pape, whose father suffers from Parkinson’s disease. It aims to help people overcome … Read more

Will we ever cure cancer?

Many of the risk factors to do with cancer are related to lifestyle, so there is concrete action people can take to avoid getting the disease. Image credit - Pixabay/ MabelAmber, licensed under pixabay license

Cancer is a group of diseases that we may never be able to cure completely, but scientists are optimistic that vaccines, personalised medicine and smart lifestyle choices will help prevent and treat a much greater proportion of cases than currently happens. We asked three cancer experts – Nobel laureate Professor Harald zur Hausen, Professor Walter … Read more