Amazing Medicine

New DNA tests of minute amounts of blood left at a crime scene can now allow police to predict, with a high degree of accuracy, the age of the perpetrator.

A cyborg, also known as a cybernetic organism, has both biological and artificial (e.g., electronic, mechanical, or robotic) parts.

Squalamine, a newly discovered compound found in shark tissue, has an amazing antiviral efficacy, and could potentially thwart a number of chronic infections.

2000 livers get discarded each year because they deteriorate in transit, damaged by ice packs. A new device keeps the liver at room temperature, and is likely to double the number of donated livers available for transplant.

A new reagent makes body tissue so clear and transparent that it could potentially be used to visually see whether a drug treatment is effective.

The tooth fairy could soon have less work on her hands now that a gene needed to regenerate tooth enamel has been identified.

A new brain scanner has been developed to help people who are completely paralyzed speak. It enables them to spell words using their thoughts. With fMRI, each letter produces a different pattern of blood flow in the brain.

Engineers have long been trying to come up with a synthetic polymer that is flexible, waterproof, conductive, heals itself, and is sensitive to touch, all outside the carefully calibrated set-up of a lab. Just like our skin.

Transient electronics offer robust performance comparable to current devices but they will fully resorb into their environment at a prescribed time, ranging from minutes to years.

Synthetic capillaries made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs, a technology that could greatly benefit vascular systems.