Medicine

Smoking cigarettes damages 323 different human genes

It’s not exactly news that smoking cigarettes is bad for you, but this latest danger is a doozy: smoking damages your genome. The largest genetic study of smoking ever has identified over 300 genes that are negatively affected by cigarettes. The study looked at white blood cells from over a thousand people in the hopes…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 15

Arsenic is unlikely warrior against cancer

The deadly poison made famous in countless Agatha Christie mysteries isn’t known for its health benefits. But an arsenic compound has helped treat leukemia sufferers for over a decade, and we’ve just discovered it can fight other cancers as well. The specific compound is arsenic trioxide, and it’s already been approved by the FDA for…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 13

Curious pro-hygiene propaganda from World War II

The National Museum of Health and Medicine has a massive gallery of weird medical photography on their Flickr page, including a large collection of public health posters from World War II. Here are some of the more confounding messages. [The National Museum of Health and Medicine via Morbid Anatomy] Hey, if that soldier’s drinking straight…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 10

Researchers Discover Antibody That Kills 91% of HIV Strains

Scientists have discovered three very strong antibodies that kill various HIV strains. The strongest of these antibodies actually manages to neutralize 91% of known HIV strains. While this isn’t exactly a cure to HIV or AIDS, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. [WSJ]

Health Rosa Golijan Jul 8

Memory-restoring compound could destroy Alzheimer’s forever

Aging rats have had their memory loss reversed, thanks to a compound that helps them form new memories again. The compound could be a breakthrough treatment for Alzheimer’s. Essential to the creation and maintenance of memories is neurogenesis, in which new neurons are created and then wired into the brain’s circuitry. This process occurs in…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 8

A new facility is being built to harvest rare atoms

Find out how a particle accelerator will be used to make rare isotopes used for nuclear medicine. Technetium 99m sounds like something in a bad fifties science fiction film that would be injected into someone to give them psychic powers, or twelve hours, or both. This goes double when it’s combined with the ominous phrase…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 7

Thanks to nanotechnology, you’ll never have a root canal again!

A new dental therapy could repair damaged nerves inside teeth, making root canals a thing of the past. And it’s all done with an ultrathin layer of nanofilm. Currently, there’s only one way for dentists to deal with infection or inflammation inside teeth, and anyone who has had a root canal can tell you it’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 5

Cancer caused by DNA repair gone haywire

We don’t know how to cure it, but now we’ve got a better idea what causes cancer. The disease starts when cells mess up their attempts to repair damage to their DNA. There’s a certain tragic irony to this, as these terrible diseases seem to begin with cells trying to fix the far more minor…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 1

Tooth Regeneration Gel Could Make Fillings Obsolete

I am always looking for excuses to not brush my teeth, but the dentist always threatens me with painful cavity fillings. Well, screw you, dentist! With new tooth regeneration gel, I no longer have a reason to brush. The new gel could completely eliminate fillings, instead placing this in a cavity and regenerating the tooth…

Tech News Adam Frucci Jul 1

Red wine can stop blindness…and maybe keep you young, too

Too much wine can blur your vision in the short term. But over the long haul? It could prevent blindness, thanks to resveratrol, an anti-aging compound found in red wine. And that’s just the beginning of its benefits. One of the main causes of blindness, particularly for older patients, is uncontrollable blood vessel growth in…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jun 25

Cyborg cat walks on bionic feet

Surgeons have grafted bone-like metal prostheses onto the legs of a cat who lost its feet in a horrible accident. Now Oscar can walk again. Cat lovers may want tissues at the ready – things are about to get heartwarming. Oscar is a cat from the British isle of Jersey who lost his back feet…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jun 25

These Cancer Cells Were Spotted With a DSLR

This is an image of a tissue sample that doctors could use to detect cancerous cells. It’s crisp, it’s clear, it could save a life. And it was taken with a $400 Olympus E-330. Using a consumer-grade camera for diagnostic imaging is a pretty amazing feat, announced just today by biomedical engineers from Rice University.…

Tech News Brian Barrett Jun 24

Breakthrough: The first functional, vat-grown lungs

In a first for medical science, rats were able to breathe and oxygenate their blood using lungs that had been grown in the lab. This a major step toward being able to grow replacement organs. Led by biomedical engineer Laura Niklason, a team at Yale constructed the tiny lungs for rats using a relatively new…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 24

King Tut died of sickle cell disease, say German researchers

Scientists from Hamburg’s Bernhard Nocht Institute are challenging the assertion that Tutankhamun died of malaria and injuries from a fall. The German team believes that Tut’s foot bones indicate sickle cell, a common disorder amongst Egypt’s oases inhabitants. [AFP]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jun 23

From Antivirus to Antibiotics, McAfee Searches for a Last Cure

Allison Adonizio and John McAfee think they’ve discovered the next great antibiotic in the jungles of Belize. It’s all natural. It’s unpatentable. It’s untested. And thanks to our business of medicine, it’s not coming to America. It grows wild along the shores of the New River, among the Mayan ruins of Lamanai, next to the…

Tech News Joel Johnson Jun 22

Chemical From Broken LCD TVs Could Save Lives

Next time your Wiimote accidentally gets thrown into your LCD TV, don’t fret too much—chemicals found in the broken TV sets could be used to fight infections in the human body. The welcome news has come from research undertaken by the University of York in England, which found that the polyvinyl-alcohol, or PVA, can actually…

Health Kat Hannaford Jun 21

Robots are Taking Over in a New Hospital Opening in Scotland

Robots (albeit not quite as pretty as Salma Hayek in Across The Universe) are replacing humans in a $444m hospital opening in Scotland. They’ll take over some of the more menial duties of ward-workers, including bringing meals and dispensing drugs. They’ll live underneath the hospital and use service elevators, coming out only to do the…

Health Kat Hannaford Jun 18

A brain research center that’s designed to scramble your mind

Weirdo architect Frank Gehry has designed a brain research center in Las Vegas that looks a bit like a brain – after being deconstructed and made really shiny. [via BoingBoing and Frank Gehry]

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 17

8 Incredible Health Innovations That Transform Lives

Each day, the physical capabilities that technology gives us is incredible, and we’re not just talking about texting friends at lightening pace, or the ability to see our energy consumption in real time. We’re talking about the abilities given to us by new tech in the health industry, either to supplement or restore disabilities experienced…

Health Jaymi Heimbuch - Planet Green Jun 8

Paging Dr. iPad

A team of doctors at Kobe University called in a specialist recently to assist with a surgery. And while the iPad may not have been the most practical medical aide, it’s the only one that comes with Plants vs. Zombies. As you can see from the video, the iPad had to be covered in plastic…

Tech News Brian Barrett Jun 3

Smoking cigarettes damages 323 different human genes

Arsenic is unlikely warrior against cancer

Curious pro-hygiene propaganda from World War II

Researchers Discover Antibody That Kills 91% of HIV Strains

Memory-restoring compound could destroy Alzheimer’s forever

A new facility is being built to harvest rare atoms

Thanks to nanotechnology, you’ll never have a root canal again!

Cancer caused by DNA repair gone haywire

Tooth Regeneration Gel Could Make Fillings Obsolete

Red wine can stop blindness…and maybe keep you young, too

Cyborg cat walks on bionic feet

These Cancer Cells Were Spotted With a DSLR

Breakthrough: The first functional, vat-grown lungs

King Tut died of sickle cell disease, say German researchers

From Antivirus to Antibiotics, McAfee Searches for a Last Cure

Chemical From Broken LCD TVs Could Save Lives

Robots are Taking Over in a New Hospital Opening in Scotland

A brain research center that’s designed to scramble your mind

8 Incredible Health Innovations That Transform Lives

Paging Dr. iPad

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

‘How Do We Make Sure That Claude Behaves Itself?’: Anthropic Invited 15 Christians for a Summit

See the Next ‘Hunger Games’ in This Trip Down Memory Lane

Indie Animation Is Having a Moment on YouTube

Trump’s World Liberty Financial Makes FTX-esque Move, Borrows Against Its Own Crypto Token

Steven Soderbergh Wanted to Take ‘Bond’ Back to the ’60s

If You Make Fart Music, ChatGPT Will Be the Most Supportive Girlfriend You Could Ask For

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

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The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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