Could a Dead Heart Save Your Life?
Surgeons say they have performed the first transplant using a ‘dead’ heart. Could this fill the deficit of donor hearts? In October 2014, multiple headlines reported that a heart had stopped beating and been revived, before being transplanted into a living recipient. Scientists in Australia told the story of how they had transplanted the ‘dead’…
How Surgeons Mend Broken Hearts — and Build New Ones
The need to mend broken hearts has never been greater. But what if we could simply manufacture a new one? Haskell Karp was 37 when he suffered his first heart attack, and over the next ten years he suffered a variety of related problems. By 1969 even the slightest effort, like combing his hair or…
Do Mini-Packaged Snacks Really Help You Eat Less Junk?
In recent years countless food manufacturers have been “sub-packaging” their foods into smaller portions in an apparent effort to curb folks from overindulging. You can usually find 100 kcal multi-packs of chips, pretzels, chocolates, and all sorts of junk foods. Despite the very obvious negative environmental impact of all this excess packaging, what, if any,…
The Seashell-Inspired Material Creating a New Wave of Safety Gear
The risk of injury in professional sport has been a central feature in recent debates about how well protected our stars are. Only recently, Argentine football player Emanuel Ortega died of a fatal head injury after hitting a concrete wall during a game. One solution is to increase the use of protective wear and to…
Is Your Nervous System Being Hacked by Bacteria in Your Gut?
The vagus nerve brings information from all over the body to the brain – but is it being hacked by the bacteria in our gut? Some 80 per cent of the traffic along the vagus nerve is sensory information sent up to the brain by the body, and researchers are beginning to realise this has…