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When radioactive materials were first introduced into society, it took a while before scientists understood the risks. The same is true of nanotechnology today, according to Dr Vladimir Baulin, from University Rovira i Virgili, in Tarragona, Spain, who together with colleagues has shown for the first time how nanoparticles can cross biological - or lipid - membranes in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.
With a hundred billion cells, each connected in thousands of intricate ways, the human brain is arguably the most complex system in the universe.
Eating well and going for walks in middle age can contribute to cutting your risk of dementia in half, say researchers who are working on ways to tackle the disease through lifestyle choices.
The part of the brain that makes you feel full could be impaired in babies of obese mothers, researchers believe – predisposing them to a lifetime of weight problems.
The Zika virus has been linked to severe brain damage in babies. However, a breakthrough in understanding how it gets into brain cells could give researchers a way to stop the disease in its tracks.
Cancer treatments that are personalised to an individual’s tumour cells or body clock, a boost to the hunt for dark matter using new findings from Large Hadron Collider data, and long-distance communications enhanced by augmented reality are just some of the scientific breakthroughs expected by researchers this year.
Testing new medicines on miniature samples of human tissue, known as organ-on-a-chip or – in the case of multiple tissues – body-on-a-chip technology, promises to make medical research faster while reducing the use of lab animals.
We will see vaccines for malaria and HIV within the next one or two decades, predicts Dr Leonardo Santos Simão, the former health minister of Mozambique, who has been appointed High Representative South of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), which aims to accelerate the development of new treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tools for diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.
European scientists are joining forces to find out more about the impact of common chemicals on human health, with the aim of providing solid evidence of risk that can feed into new regulations and policies.
Trillions of pieces of plastic, many of which will last for thousands of years, are floating in the oceans, potentially damaging human health, killing birds and fish, and even adding to global warming.
Floating research laboratories are reaching the fringes of space.
Automated and connected devices can save lives.
Ending flu pandemics and winter outbreaks in a single shot.
EU firms should be brought within ‘innovation ecosystems’ to develop breakthrough technology, according to Prof. Luke Georghiou.
‘Lean’ farming could reduce waste.
The basic premise is to open up the innovation process to all active players.
