Medicine and Life Sciences

This weekend we will be switching to a new system for handling student queries. From 16 March you can track the status of your question or request in your portal. Click to read the news article. Better insulation and ventilation in social housing means that children need less medication for asthma or allergies.

Three striking new species of rock-dwelling monitor lizards have been  formally described  from the savannas of north-eastern Queensland, revealing a previously unrecognised evolutionary lineage. The discovery, led by researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), identified the Rainbow Rock Monitor ( Varanus iridis ), the Orange-headed Rock Monitor ( Varanus umbra ) and the Yellow-headed Rock Monitor ( Varanus phosphoros ).

How does a tiny cluster of cells become an embryo with a head, trunk, and tail? And how do thousands of genes coordinate this development? A new imaging method makes it possible to visualize the activity of thousands of genes simultaneously throughout the entire zebrafish embryo. Using this technology, a research team at the University of Basel has created an atlas of all genes and cells involved in turning a cluster of cells into an embryo.

News from At Leipzig University Medicine, scientists are researching how bodies, organs, cells and microbes talk to each other.

People affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, did not develop more severe forms of mpox - compared to HIV-negative people - during the multiregional outbreak of this disease that occurred in Spain in 2022.

The new experimental compound works through an epigenetic mechanism that acts not only on the symptoms of the disease, but directly on the molecular mechanisms that contribute to its progression.

Does feeding less protein over a longer period not only reduce nitrogen losses, but also affect methane emissions? Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) investigated this in a multi-year study with dairy cows, funded by the Vereniging Diervoederonderzoek Nederland (VDN), LVVN and the Melkveefonds.

Inflammation-related protein changes could help predict cognitive impairment after a strokeespecially in smokers.

A research team from the University of Valencia has analysed the scientific evidence available suggesting that cancer and cardiovascular disease are not independent conditions but share important metabolic and biological mechanisms. This synthesis of current knowledge, published in Seminars in Cancer Biology , proposes an integrative perspective that could help rethink the prevention and treatment of both diseases.

New analysis of ancient parrot DNA has revealed vibrant Amazonian parrots were transported alive across the Andes to coastal Peru centuries before the Inca Empire, highlighting a sophisticated pre-Inca, long-distance trade network spanning rainforest, highlands and deserts.