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One placenta yields enough material to grow 25 pancreases which could be a cheaper and easier form of transplant to help people with Type 1 diabetes. Image credit - E. Berishvili
health
23 July 2020

Lab grown and do-it-yourself: two emerging routes to an artificial pancreas

A ‘bio-artificial’ pancreas grown in a lab with the aid of placental stem cells, and a DIY insulin-monitoring and release system are being developed to give people with insulin-dependent diabetes an alternative to waiting for a pancreas transplant.

Single-patient isolation pods can help protect air ambulance crews from infection, allowing coronavirus patients to be transported to areas with higher intensive care capacity. Image credit - EpiGuard
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
14 July 2020

Six innovations to tackle coronavirus

From bioluminescent testing kits to disinfecting robots, Horizon examines six innovations and technologies currently being developed to tackle the coronavirus.

90% of brain development happens by the age of four, so scientists want to understand the effects of air pollution at the earliest stages of life. Image credit - Unsplash/Pixabay, licenced under Unsplash licence
health | environment | frontier research
13 July 2020

Air pollution affects brain development - but when does the damage start?

The emergency rooms in Barcelona were collapsing under the pressure. Hundreds of patients were arriving in desperate need as they struggled to breathe, while intensive care units struggled to cope with the sudden influx of respiratory problems. Epidemiologists scrambled to trace the source of the outbreak.

Moving people from cars to other forms of mobility is ‘extremely complex’, partly because there are powerful lobbies resisting change, says Dr Chaix. Image credit - Basile Chaix
interview | health | transport | frontier research
06 July 2020

Q&A: What lockdown air pollution reductions mean for the future of urban transport

People in cities experienced cleaner air during lockdowns, but a permanent shift to greener modes of transport and habits is ‘extremely complex to achieve’ given how much space is devoted to cars and the groups resisting change, says Dr Basile Chaix, who studies the health trade-offs we make as we travel.

Many mental health problems begin between the ages of 12 and 24 according to researchers. Image credit - www.wallpaperflare.com/Public domain
health
29 June 2020

Does teenage anxiety have its roots in infancy?

The fact that teenagers worry isn’t necessarily a concern – it’s when the adolescent brain amplifies and distorts a simple worry that mental health problems can arise. As scientists aim to unlock why teenagers get anxious, and how infancy and upbringing are implicated, early intervention strategies are being refined to redirect harmful thoughts and teach adolescents to read the emotions of others – a crucial way to keep their own distressing feelings in check.

interview | coronavirus outbreak | health
26 June 2020

Q&A: ‘We are only at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic’ – Prof. Peter Piot

We’re only at the start of the coronavirus pandemic although the second wave may take a different form to the first one, says veteran virologist Professor Peter Piot, who has spent the past 40 years tracking down and fighting viruses.

E.coli can cause disease but it also lives in our gut and has a range of toxins that helps keep the populations of the various bacteria in balance. Image credit - NIAID/Wikimedia commons, licenced under CC BY 2.0
health | frontier research
23 June 2020

Bacteria are always at war. Understanding their use of weapons may lead to antibiotic alternatives

A small glimmer of light passes from one bacterium to another. Under the microscope it might not look like much, but there’s a deadly battle underway: the second cell has just been hit by a poisoned spear.

The way anxiety affects our perception of changes to our body, such as breathing, could pave the way for more targeted anxiety treatments. Image credit - www.pxfuel.com/Public domain
health
22 June 2020

What anxiety does to our breathing

Stressful situations can cause anxiety, our body’s natural response to stress. But feelings of apprehension can also be accompanied by physical effects such as rapid breathing, increased heart rate and nausea. How our brain perceives these physical changes – in particular, breathing – could be key to better understanding anxiety disorders and treating them.

People are very bad at assessing their own sense of smell and often don't realise how important it is until it's gone, say scientists. Image credit - Pixabay/Engin Akyurt, licenced under Pixabay licence
coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
18 June 2020

Why does coronavirus make people lose their sense of smell?

To begin with, it was just anecdotal reports. Ear, nose and throat specialists from around the world were sharing their experiences on online message boards – they were all seeing a spike in patients experiencing anosmia, a loss of smell.

The immune system is changing all the time and Dr Aleksandra Walczak wants to distinguish between genuine responses and random fluctuations. Image credit - B. Eymann - Académie des sciences
interview | coronavirus outbreak | health | frontier research
16 June 2020

Q&A: How physics could explain why people respond differently to coronavirus infection

Some people’s immune systems contain pre-existing protection against coronavirus, indicating that they have encountered a similar infection to Covid-19 before, according to Dr Aleksandra Walczak, a physicist at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France.

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