Chronic pain affects about 40% of the UK population. While there is growing recognition that pain can be an illness in and of itself, there is still a lot we don’t know.
Anand Jagatia hears from fibromyalgia sufferer Vicky Naylor on what it’s like to live with chronic pain, and the Guardian’s science correspondent Linda Geddes about the causes for these sometimes debilitating conditions.
The world’s animals and wildlife are becoming extinct at a greater rate than at any time in human history. Could technology help to save threatened species? Read our latest technology quarterly on protecting biodiversity: https://econ.st/3dqdkKN
With so many myths about COVID-19 vaccines regarding their impact on our health, many people don’t know what to believe. In our fact check, find out what you need to know about the mRNA vaccines — as we expose the myths and reveal the facts.
First this week, Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady talks with host Sarah Crespi about controversy surrounding the use of Botox injections to alleviate depression by suppressing frowning.
Next, researcher Stephen Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses his Science Advances paper on what turns on the fruit fly sex drive. Finally, we are excited to kick off a six-part series of monthly interviews with authors of books that highlight the many intersections between race and science and scientists. This week, guest host and journalist Angela Saini talks with Keith Wailoo, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, who helped select the topics about the books we will be covering and how they were selected.
Long covid is strange and mysterious in part because of a lack of investment in researching post-viral syndromes like chronic fatigue syndrome – it is time to change that…
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Solar storms can hit close to home and have the potential to affect our power grid and cause widespread blackouts. Watch how researchers and engineers are working to make sure important infrastructure—like our power grid—is protected from geomagnetic disturbances caused by space weather.
Some birds can sense Earth’s magnetic field, using it to navigate. But precisely how they do this has long remained a mystery. Now, researchers have confirmed that a protein found in bird eyes displays a quantum mechanical phenomenon which makes it sensitive to magnetic fields. The researchers suggest this mechanism could be behind birds’ magnetoreception abilities.
Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
This revolutionary gene-editing system has taken science by storm. CRISPR is the basis of a revolutionary gene editing system. One day, it could make it possible to do everything from resurrect extinct species to develop cures for chronic disease.
CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote. They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections.
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