Category Archives: News & Archives

How a Blue Pill Is Stopping the Spread of HIV

Kyle, a 29-year-old Sydneysider, never knew a time when HIV wasn’t a persistent and pernicious threat — until he began popping a pill to prevent it. The blue, oval-shaped antiviral tablet, known as Truvada, that Kyle takes daily is the subject of a study in Australia’s New South Wales state that, in less than a…

The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals

Ever since the days of Homer, Greeks have long idealized their Mycenaean “ancestors” in epic poems and classic tragedies that glorify the exploits of Odysseus, King Agamemnon, and other heroes who went in and out of favor with the Greek gods. Although these Mycenaeans were fictitious, scholars have debated whether today’s Greeks descend from the…

Scientists Precisely Edit DNA In Human Embryos To Fix A Disease Gene

Scientists have been tinkering with the DNA in humans and other living things for decades. But one thing has long been considered off-limits: modifying human DNA in any way that could be passed down for generations. Now, an international team of scientists reports they have, for the first time, figured out a way to successfully edit the…

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus govern how fast aging occurs in the body. The finding, made in mice, could lead to new strategies for warding off age-related diseases and extending lifespan. The paper was published online today in Nature. The hypothalamus was known to regulate…

Potentially lethal parasite rat lungworm found throughout Florida

University of Florida researchers have found rat lungworm, a parasitic nematode that can cause meningitis in humans and animals, in five Florida counties. Rats and snails in Alachua, Leon, St. Johns, Orange and Hillsborough counties tested positive for the parasite, according to a study in PLoS ONE by researchers in the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and…

In saliva, clues to a ‘ghost’ species of ancient human

In saliva, scientists have found hints that a "ghost" species of archaic humans may have contributed genetic material to ancestors of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that sexual rendezvous between different archaic human species may not have been unusual. Past studies have concluded that…

Is Southwest Florida water quality better this summer?

Back in 2016, Southwest Florida had issues with clean water due to heavy rainfall in our area, which caused overflowing discharges from Lake Okeechobee. The water appeared murky and brown which affected people coming to the beach. "It was stained. You couldn't really see anything. We take people up in the air and even they…

St. Lucie River algae-free for Fourth of July

Story Video: Click here Following last year's toxic algae on the Treasure Coast, residents are pleased with the improvements this summer. During the Fourth of July holiday in 2016, toxic blue green algae coated parts of the St. Lucie River. Because of that, boaters and swimmers avoided the water, and business owners who rely on water…

A new microscope uses light to ‘cut’ through tissue samples and find cancer

The ultimate goal of a lumpectomy is to remove all the cancerous tissue from a person's breast while saving as much of the healthy tissue as possible. But that's even harder than it sounds. Without the ability to look at tissue under a microscope, it's currently impossible to tell whether the area surrounding a tumor contains cancerous cells or…

DNA solves ancient animal riddle that Darwin couldn’t

After the last of its kind died out about 12,000 years ago, a strange animal that stumped Charles Darwin is finally being added to the tree of life, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications. Macrauchenia patachonica lived during the last ice age. It resembled a bulky camel without a hump, with…