Researchers demonstrate the fluorescent signal generated by SHERLOCK.SCOTT SASSONE/BROAD INSTITUTE If the genome-editing powerhouse CRISPR were a dog, it would be the kind you can train to retrieve everything from Frisbees to slippers to a cold beer. In research reported on Thursday, scientists trained their puppy to be so discriminating it can tell Zika’s genetic...
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Research connects first-time kidney stone formers and chronic kidney disease
Kidneys (stock image). Getting your first kidney stone may put you a risk for chronic kidney disease, say researchers. Mayo Clinic nephrologists have uncovered a connection between first-time kidney stone formers and chronic kidney disease. In a paper published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers announce a persistent decline in kidney functioning following an individual’s first case...
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Study shows hearing tests miss common form of hearing loss
Traditional clinical hearing tests often fail to diagnose patients with a common form of inner ear damage that might otherwise be detected by more challenging behavioral tests, according to the findings of a University at Buffalo-led study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. This type of “hidden hearing loss” paradoxically presents itself as essentially normal hearing...
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Eye movement research could hold the key to early Parkinson’s diagnosis
The way people with Parkinson’s use their eyes to complete simple tasks in both the real world and working at computers is being investigated by neuroscientists – and the findings could help early diagnosis and improve their quality of life. Neuroscientists at the University of Lincoln have been investigating markers specific to Parkinson’s, including...
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Facebook Finally Released Details on Their Top Secret Brain-Computer Interface
IN BRIEF Regina Dugan, a former DARPA executive and current head of Facebook’s mysterious Building 8, has released information about the work that the social media giant has been doing on brain-computer-interfaces meant to let you “communicate using only your mind.” Facebook’s annual developers’ conference is in full swing this week. Ultimately, the event serves...
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Virtual reality could soon be used to help autistic children deal with the stress of the classroom
Virtual reality could help autistic people learn to deal with crowded situations This is because in virtual worlds people and the environment are predictable Scientists have been using the Oculus Rift headset to test how it could help The technology involves tracking, 3D audio and high resolution video to immerse users in a virtual world...
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Suppressing single protein greatly extends life span of mice with ALS-like disease
A set of experiments at Stanford reveals that suppressing a protein called ataxin 2 dramatically extends survival and improves motor function in a mouse model of ALS. Aaron Gitler and his colleagues found that suppressing a protein in mice genetically engineered to have an ALS-like disease allowed them to live longer and improved their motor...
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Retraining the brain to see after stroke
Patients who went partially blind after suffering a stroke regained large swaths of rudimentary sight after undergoing visual training designed by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Flaum Eye Institute. A new study out today in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, provides the first evidence that rigorous visual training...
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Researchers disentangle relationship between autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, and ADHD in children
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience internalizing and externalizing problems at higher rates than typically developing children, which could worsen social impairment, according to researchers with the Virginia Tech Center for Autism Research. The study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, compared social impairment scores in 57 children (3-17 years, 82.5 percent male) with...
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New drug provides long-awaited breakthrough for Parkinson’s psychosis
Julie Torrence clearly remembers the emotional jolt she felt the day her father, Clyde Hill, failed to recognize her at his Kansas care center. For nearly three decades, Parkinson’s disease had afflicted Hill in a growing number of ways, from the muscle rigidity and walking difficulties that forced his retirement from farming to the more...