Humans’ ‘inner salamander’ capacity could regrow cartilage

Humans have the ability to regrow cartilage, a new study has found. In a way similar to how salamanders and other creatures can regrow lost limbs, humans have the capacity to repair and regenerate cartilage in their joints, researchers at Duke Health discovered. “We believe that an understanding of this ‘salamander-like’ regenerative capacity in humans, and the critically missing components […]

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Humans more unique than expected when it comes to digesting fatty meals

People have very individualized inflammatory responses to eating a high-fat meal. These were the somewhat unexpected results of a study recently published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry by researchers at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and their University of California-Davis colleagues. “We looked at the inflammatory reactions of 20 volunteers at 0, 3 and 6 hours after eating a […]

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Parasitic worms infect dogs, humans

A human infective nematode found in remote northern areas of Australia has been identified in canine carriers for the first time. Flinders University environmental health researchers, with experts in the U.S., have found a form of the soil-borne Strongyloides worm in faeces collected from dogs. Strongyloidiasis, carried by several kinds of Strongyloides spp., is estimated to infect up to 370 […]

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Heart-on-a-chip mimics drug response seen in humans

Researchers from TARA Biosystems, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today published data demonstrating that TARA’s engineered heart-on-a-chip system replicated drug responses found in adult humans. The findings, published in the journal Toxicological Sciences, show TARA’s 3-D-cardiac tissue platform can predict how human hearts will respond to a wide range of drugs, something that has been a challenge in pre-clinical models until […]

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Humans aren’t designed to be happy

A huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth US$11 billion a year, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept, exported to the rest of the world through popular culture. Indeed, “the pursuit of happiness” is one of the US’s “unalienable rights.” Unfortunately, this […]

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Scientists disconfirm belief that humans’ physiological reaction to emotions are uniform

How do you feel when you’re angry? Tense? Jittery? Exhausted? Is it the same every time? Is it identical to how your best friend, co-worker, or barista feel when they experience anger? In all likelihood the answer is no, that how you experience anger varies between situations, and that how you experience it varies from others. According to new research […]

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