Science
Forest lizards genetically morph to survive life in the city
(AP) — Lizards that once dwelled in forests but now slink around urban areas have genetically morphed to survive life in the city, researchers have found.
The Puerto Rican crested anole, a brown lizard with a bright orange throat fan, has sprouted special scales to better cling to smooth surfaces like walls and windows and grown larger limbs to sprint across open areas, scientists say.
“We are watching evolution as it’s unfolding,” said Kristin Winchell, a biology professor at NYU and main author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As urbanization intensifies around the world, it’s important to understand how organisms adapt and humans can design cities in ways that support all species, Winchell said.
The study analyzed 96 Anolis cristatellus lizards, comparing the genetic makeup of forest-dwellers to those living in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, as well as the northern city of Arecibo and western city of Mayaguez. Scientists found that 33 genes within the lizard genome were repeatedly associated with urbanization.
“You can hardly get closer to a smoking gun!” said Wouter Halfwerk, an evolutionary ecologist and professor at Vrije University Amsterdam who was not involved in the study.
He said he was impressed that the scientists were able to detect such a clear genomic signature of adaptation: “The ultimate goal within the field of urban adaptive evolution is to find evidence for heritable traits and their genomic architecture.”
Winchell said the lizards’ physical differences appeared to be mirrored at the genomic level.
“If urban populations are evolving with parallel physical and genomic changes, we may even be able to predict how populations will respond to urbanization just by looking at genetic markers,” she said.
The changes in these lizards, whose lifespans are roughly 7 years, can occur very quickly, within 30 to 80 generations, enabling them to escape from predators and survive in urban areas, Winchell added. The larger limbs, for example, enable them to run more quickly across a hot parking lot, and the special scales to hold onto surfaces far more smooth than trees.
“They can’t dig their claws into it. ... (Or) squirrel around to the backside,” she noted.
The scientists chased after dozens of lizards for their study, catching them with their hands or using fishing poles with a tiny lasso to snag them.
“It takes some practice,” Winchell said.
On occasion, they had to ask permission to catch lizards off people’s homes.
Among Winchell’s favorite findings was a rare albino lizard. She also found a nearly 8-inch (20-centimeter) one, rather large for the species, that she nicknamed “Godzilla.”
The study focused on adult male lizards, so it’s unclear if females are changing in the same way or at the same rate as males, and at which point in a lizard’s life the changes are occurring.
Halfwerk, whose own research showed how one frog species changed its mating call in urban areas, said scientists should look next for possible constraints on the evolutionary response and how morphology relates to mating behavior.
“Ultimately, to cash in on adaptive traits for survival, they need to lead to higher reproduction,” he said.
Natural, manmade factors behind New Zealand’s hottest year
New Zealand had its hottest year on record in 2022, beating a mark set just a year earlier thanks to a combination of natural weather cycles and manmade global warming, the agency that monitors temperatures said Wednesday.
The nation’s top four hottest years have all been recorded since 2016, and scientists don’t see the trend reversing. Records are being broken around the globe, with Spain and Britain among other nations to also hit new highs in 2022.
And as well as being warm, 2022 was also one of New Zealand’s wettest years. August storms flooded rivers, triggered landslides and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.
In October, two of the country’s largest ski areas were placed into a type of bankruptcy proceeding following a disastrous winter season with barely any snow.
Also Read: UK saw hottest-ever year in 2022 as Europe's climate warms
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, which has been recording temperatures since 1909, said the average temperature across the country in 2022 was 13.8 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit).
That was more than 1.2 degrees Celsius above the long-term average and beat the previous record by 0.2 degrees Celsius.
Chris Brandolino, a principal scientist with the agency, said the high temperatures were driven by a combination of weather cycles including the La Niña system, which brings cooler-than-normal ocean temperatures to the tropical Pacific and warmer air to New Zealand.
He said manmade factors also contributed.
“Climate change continues to influence New Zealand’s long-term temperature trend,” Brandolino told reporters.
He said the levels of carbon dioxide measured in the atmosphere near Wellington keep rising.
“Unfortunately you can see that trend, dating back to before 2014, continues to go upward and in the wrong direction,” he said.
Brandolino said there was no discernable effect on last year’s weather from the massive eruption of a volcano in Tonga.
He said he expects the first few months of 2023 to continue being warmer and wetter than normal, and for temperatures over time to keep rising.
“It’s hard to see us breaking from the trend that we are on,” Brandolino said.
Stephen Hawkings: 10 interesting facts about the great scientist
Stephen Hawking was a world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist known for his contributions to the study of black holes and the origin of the universe. Let's take a look at life, work, and surprising facts about Stephen Hawkings, one of the greatest scientists in the world.
At a Glance: Life and Work of Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England, to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking and showed an early aptitude for mathematics and science. Hawking attended University College, Oxford, and later received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics and theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge, specializing in general relativity and cosmology.
Despite being diagnosed with motor neuron disease (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) at the age of 21, Hawking remained active in his research and continued to make significant contributions to the field of physics. He developed a theory about the origin of the universe, known as the “Big Bang” theory, and made significant contributions to the black holes study and their properties.
Read More: Top 11 Major Medical Science Innovations in 2022
Hawking was also known for his work on quantum-theory research into the origin of the universe. He also made significant contributions to the study of quantum mechanics and the unification of physical laws.
In addition to his scientific work, Hawking was also a popular science communicator, writing numerous books on physics and cosmology that were aimed at a general audience. His book “A Brief History of Time” became a best-seller and helped to bring the concepts of physics to a wider audience.
Hawking received numerous accolades for his work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, in 2009. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and held professorships at the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology. Hawking passed away on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76. Despite his physical limitations, he remained active in his research and continued to make important contributions to the field of physics until the end of his life.
Read More: Top 10 Most Exciting Innovations of 2022 in Technology.
India approves $2.3 billion to develop green hydrogen
The government has approved $2.3 billion to support production, use and exports of green hydrogen, aiming to make India a global hub for the nascent industry.
The funding, announced late Wednesday, i s a first step toward establishing the capacity to make at least 5 million metric tons of green hydrogen by the end of this decade.
Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced through the electrolysis of water, powered by electricity generated from renewable sources of energy. Most of the world’s hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels, especially natural gas.
The aim of the funding initiative is “to make green hydrogen affordable and bring down its cost over the next five years. It will also help India reduce its emissions and become a major exporter in the field,” said Anurag Thakur, India’s minister for information and broadcasting.
He said the financing would also help add about 125 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. As of October, India had about 166 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity.
Other aims are to create more than a half million new jobs, attract more private investment into the sector, reduce fossil fuel imports and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 million metric tons.
Many of India’s leading renewable energy companies, including companies owned by the Adani Group, Reliance Industries and JSW Energy; public sector companies like Indian Oil and NTPC Limited; and renewable-only companies such as Renew power are investing in production of green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen now amounts to a small fraction of global hydrogen use, estimated to be about 70 million tons per year. Most commercially produced hydrogen is grey hydrogen, produced using fossil fuels, and blue hydrogen that is also made using fossil fuels but with the use of carbon capture systems to reduce emissions. The production of green hydrogen results in the emission of little to no greenhouse gases.
In providing policy incentives for green hydrogen production, India is following the lead of many other countries such as China, the European Union and the United States. Energy analysts expect manufacturing costs for green hydrogen to fall significantly in the next few years and estimate the green hydrogen market will grow 20-fold to $80 billion by the year 2030.
“A robust policy framework, requisite financial support and an enabling ecosystem for technology development are essential to displace the country’s conventional fuel mix with green hydrogen and enhance its industrial competitiveness in an increasingly decarbonizing world,” said Shreyans Jain, an India-based sustainable business strategy consultant who closely tracks developments in the green hydrogen industry.
Best of CES 2023: Wireless TV, delivery robots and in-car VR
Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show.
The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, big names like LG and Samsung were showcasing their latest products for the media in Las Vegas. Smaller startups were due to exhibit at an event later Wednesday.
Here are some highlights:
NO MESSY WIRES
LG Electronics unveiled a 97-inch OLED TV with what it calls a Zero Connect Box that streams content wirelessly. The box, which still needs to be plugged in, just needs to be within 30 feet (nine meters) of the display.
Read more: Best of CES 2023: Electric skates, pet tech and AI for birds
But why would anyone want a wireless 4K television?
David M. Park, senior marketing manager at the South Korean tech company, says it means owners can place a TV in the center of the room without all the messy wires, or maybe mount it above a fireplace or perhaps on a hard-to-drill concrete wall.
LG says the 97-inch LG Signature OLED M (model M3) will be available in the second half of 2023. Pricing has not yet been announced.
ROBOT DELIVERIES
Picture yourself weaving through crowds at the airport on a busy holiday weekend, ignoring the rumble in your stomach as you speed past restaurants to make it to your gate on time.
Brooklyn-based Ottonomy.io is looking to ease that all-too-familiar travel anxiety with its fully autonomous delivery robots.
Read More: Top 10 Most Exciting Innovations of 2022 in Technology
If you’re traveling through airports in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Rome, for example, you might cross paths with one of these robots as they bring food directly to travelers at their gates.
Ottonomy unveiled its newest robot, the Yeti, on Wednesday at CES. It showed off its new self-dispensing feature, which eliminates the need for a human to be present to collect deliveries.
The company also provides outdoor curbside delivery services up to 4 miles (6.4 kilometers).
Ottonomy co-founder and CEO Ritukar Vijay said the price tag on its services varies depending on the number of robots a company wants to deploy and how many restaurants or retailers are included in the delivery footprint.
Read more: CES 2023: Russian exhibitors barred from tech show
VR FOR YOUR CAR
Holoride, based in Munich, Germany, wants to make car rides more fun and less dizzy. The company's VR headset allows passengers to play video games, watch Netflix or scroll through Instagram while they ride.
If the car is moving, you move in the virtual world, helping to prevent car sickness, according to co-founder Daniel Profendiner. Rather than seeing the road, you might be flying and fighting robots or swimming under the sea.
“The car industry is super-focused on the driver but with more autonomous driving on the horizon, the passenger gets more into the focus as well,” he said.
Read More: Top 11 Major Medical Science Innovations in 2022
Previously, holoride was only available for Audis with an in-system retrofit so the headset could recognize when the car was moving. On Wednesday at CES, the company announced a new product that can be used in any car.
The retrofit pack, which includes the VR headset, holoride retrofit, a safety strap and a one-year subscription to holoride, is $799.
Best of CES 2023: Electric skates, pet tech and AI for birds
Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show.
The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic.
Exhibitors range from big names including Sony and LG to tiny startups. You might see the next big thing or something that will never make it past the prototype stage.
On Tuesday night, the show kicked off with media previews from just some of the 3,000 companies signed up to attend. CES officially opens Thursday.
Read More: CES 2023: Russian exhibitors barred from tech show
Best Products of CES 2023
Here are some highlights:
POKEMON, BUT MAKE IT BIRDS
Bird Buddy showed off a smart bird feeder that takes snapshots of feathered friends as they fly in to eat some treats. The startup says its AI technology can recognize more than 1,000 species of birds, allowing users to share through a mobile app what kind of birds they’re feeding.
“We try to kind of gamify the collection so it’s a really fun game that you can play — almost like a real life Pokémon Go with real animals and wildlife in your backyard,” said Kyle Buzzard, the company’s co-founder and chief hardware officer.
The product has already sparked some interest from consumers who want to show the world what birds are coming into their backyards.
The company, which began as a Kickstarter project in 2020, says it started shipping its bird feeders in September and has already sold all 100,000 in its inventory. The price for the basic feeder is $199.
Read more: Top 5 Inventions of Scientist Isaac Newton
ELECTRIC SKATES
Journalists had fun zipping around the exhibit hall on remote-controlled, electric inline skates from French startup AtmosGear.
The battery lasts for 20 miles (32 kilometers), said founder Mohamed Soliman, who hopes people will see them as a viable way to commute, like electric bikes or scooters.
“My goal is for everyone to go skating again because it’s so much fun, every time you see people skating you see them with a big smile,” Soliman said.
A waist bag holds the battery and cables connected to the skates. They also can be used as regular skates when they need to be charged or skaters simply want to travel under their own power.
The $500 skates are available for pre-order. The company has taken orders for 150 pairs so far and is aiming for 200 orders to start production.
Read More: Top 10 Most Exciting Innovations of 2022 in Technology
DIGITAL TEMPORARY TATTOOS
A handheld device displayed by South Korean company Prinker allows you to quickly and easily apply temporary tattoos.
The device uses cosmetic-grade ink with a library of thousands of designs or the option to make your own with the company’s app. After picking a tattoo, you just wave the device over wherever you want it applied. The tattoos are waterproof but wash off with soap.
The flagship model is $279 and a smaller model is $229. Ink cartridges good for 1,000 tattoos are $119.
Read More: Best of CES 2023: Wireless TV, delivery robots and in-car VR
HELPING FIND YOUR WAY
Japan-based Loovic has created a device designed to solve the challenges of those who have difficulty navigating while they walk.
The device worn around the neck employs sounds and vibrations to guide users to destinations, enabling them to look at what’s around rather than focusing on a phone’s map app.
Loovic co-founder and CEO Toru Yamanaka said he was inspired to create the device for his son, who has a cognitive impairment making it difficult for him to navigate.
The prototype device is not yet available to the public.
Read more: Alzheimer’s drug approval ‘rife with irregularities’: Probe
A FITNESS TRACKER FOR YOUR DOG
If you wonder what your dog is doing while you’re not home, French startup Invoxia has a product for you. The company’s smart dog collar monitors your pet’s activity and sleep, sending the data to your phone.
The latest version unveiled at CES, which has a GPS tracker, includes more advanced heart health monitoring.
The collar is $149 in the U.S. while a monthly $8.25 subscription to the app monitors the data and shares it with your veterinarian.
METAVERSE FOR KIDS
The creators of Roybi, an educational AI robot that helps children learn about STEM topics and new languages, are venturing into the metaverse.
Read More: Top 11 Major Medical Science Innovations in 2022
The RoybiVerse is expected to offer stations where K-12 and higher education students can learn about a wide range of educational topics.
Users walking around the RoybiVerse will be able to visit an area where they’ll learn about dinosaurs or walk over to the virtual library where they can pick a book and read it.
The RoybiVerse, which is expected to launch by mid-2023, will be available in virtual reality headsets and on a website. No robot needed.
Top 5 Inventions of Scientist Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton was one of the the greatest scientist in the world. He did groundbreaking research and discoveries regarding the laws of motion, characteristics of light, gravitational force, calculus, orbital cannon, etc. Newton has numerous additional innovations that aid in the modernization of civilizations. Let's take a look at the 5 most remarkable inventions and discoveries of the great scientist Isaac Newton.
At a Glance: Life of Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, on January 4, 1643. After his mother remarried, Newton spent the most of his early years with his maternal grandmother. His father had died three months before to his birth. A unsuccessful effort to make him become a farmer halted his schooling, and he attended the King's School in Grantham before enrolling in 1661 at the University of Cambridge's Trinity College.
Newton studied a classical curriculum at Cambridge, but he grew attracted by the writings of contemporary philosophers like as René Descartes. He even devoted a collection of notes titled "Questiones Quaedam Philosophicae" to his outside reads. In 1665, when the Great Plague wiped out Cambridge, Newton retreated to his farm and started developing his ideas on calculus, light, and color. On this farm, an apple is said to have fallen, inspiring his work on gravity.
Newton was also an avid student of history and theological concepts, and his posthumously released works on these topics were gathered into many volumes. Newton, who never married, spent his final years living with his niece in Cranbury Park, England, near Winchester. He passed away peacefully on March 31, 1727, and was interred in Westminster Abbey.
Read More: 10 Greatest Female Scientists of All Time.
Major inventions of Scientist Isaac Newton
Newton's many inventions, breakthroughs, and outlandish ideas reveal a famous intellect. Here are the most discussed ones:
Orbital Cannon
Isaac Newton enjoyed experimenting with the notion of universal gravity. In his speculations, he envisioned a mountain so tall that it would protrude into space. He believed that if such a mountain existed, a cannon could be placed on it to fire objects into space.
This was an explanation for how one item may circle another. He reasoned that if the cannonball were launched with the correct quantity of gunpowder, it might attain sufficient velocity to descend towards Earth at the same pace that the globe bent away from the sun. The projectile would continue to circle the globe in free fall.
Three Laws of Motion
There is no doubting Newton's influence on our contemporary knowledge of physics, notwithstanding the skepticism of certain historians about the stories of Newton's household pets. In 1687, he nailed the basic workings of gravity with his law of universal gravitation, and he nailed the fundamental workings of motion with his three laws of motion. Here is how they all compare:
Unless affected by an external force, an item will stay at rest or in a straight path of motion.
When an item is subjected to force, it will accelerate (force = mass times acceleration).
There is an equal and opposing response for every action.
Read More: How Can Artificial Intelligence Improve Healthcare?
Calculus
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz are supposed to have independently devised calculus at the same time, despite each claiming that the other stole their work. Newton recognized that algebra and geometry were insufficient for the science he was pursuing, so he devised a new method of mathematics to correctly decipher the universe.
Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham dies aged 90
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program, died Tuesday in Houston. He was 90.
NASA confirmed Cunningham’s death in a statement but did not include its cause. His family said through a spokesman, Jeff Carr, that Cunningham died in a hospital “from complications of a fall, after a full and complete life.”
Cunningham was one of three astronauts aboard the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, an 11-day spaceflight that beamed live television broadcasts as they orbited Earth, paving the way for the moon landing less than a year later.
Cunningham, then a civilian, crewed the mission with Navy Capt. Walter M. Schirra and Donn F. Eisele, an Air Force major. Cunningham was the lunar module pilot on the space flight, which launched from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida, on Oct. 11 and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean south of Bermuda.
Read: NASA Orion capsule safely blazes back from moon, aces test
NASA said Cunningham, Eisele and Schirra’ flew a near perfect mission. Their spacecraft performed so well that the agency sent the next crew, Apollo 8, to orbit the moon as a prelude to the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday that Cunningham was “above all” an explorer whose work also laid the foundation for the agency’s new Artemis moon program.
The Apollo 7 astronauts also won a special Emmy award for their daily television reports from orbit, during which they clowned around, held up humorous signs and educated earthlings about space flight.
It was NASA’s first crewed space mission since the deaths of the three Apollo 1 astronauts in a launch pad fire Jan. 27, 1967.
Cunningham recalled Apollo 7 during a 2017 event at the Kennedy Space Center, saying it “enabled us to overcome all the obstacles we had after the Apollo 1 fire and it became the longest, most successful test flight of any flying machine ever.”
Cunningham was born in Creston, Iowa, and attended high school in California before enlisting with the Navy in 1951 and serving as a Marine Corps. pilot in Korea, according to NASA. He later obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he also did doctoral studies, and worked as scientist for the Rand Corporation before joining NASA.
In an interview the year before his death, Cunningham recalled growing up poor and dreaming of flying airplanes, not spacecraft.
“We never even knew that there were astronauts when I was growing up,” Cunningham told The Spokesman-Review.
Read: NASA says spacecraft succeeded in changing asteroid’s orbit
After retiring from NASA in 1971, Cunningham worked in engineering, business and investing, and became a public speaker and radio host. He wrote a memoir about his career and time as an astronaut, “The All-American Boys.” He also expressed skepticism in his later years about human activity contributing to climate change, bucking the scientific consensus in writing and public talks, while acknowledging that he was not a climate scientist.
Although Cunningham never crewed another space mission after Apollo 7, he remained a proponent of space exploration. He told the Spokane, Washington, paper last year, “I think that humans need to continue expanding and pushing out the levels at which they’re surviving in space.”
Cunningham is survived by his wife Dot, his sister Cathy Cunningham, and his children Brian and Kimberly. In a statement, Cunningham’s family said, “the world has lost another true hero, and we will miss him dearly.”
Top 11 Major Medical Science Innovations in 2022
2022 was a year full of inventions and innovations. Last year there have been considerable strides in almost all spheres of the scientific periphery. From efficient renewable energy to life-like robots, the year tested the limit of possibilities. Perhaps some of the most considerable progress has been made in the field of medical sciences ranging from improved diagnostics to path-breaking cures. Here is our pick of the 11 best medical science innovations of 2022.
11 Most Significant Innovations in Medical Science in 2022
PSMA Diagnostics for Efficient Prostate Cancer Diagnostics
Prostate cancer has been a growing concern in men’s health over the last few decades. About 13% of the total male population is at risk of prostate cancer, with people over 65 being the primary patients. It is also common among non-Hispanic races and poses serious complications if not treated at the nascent stage.
The conventional diagnosis uses bone and CT scanning, which might often fail to detect the cancer-forming tumor at the early stage. But a new diagnosis using Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen or PSMA, which is predominantly found on the surface tissue of the tumor has been discovered. This will allow accurate diagnostics at the onset which will dramatically reduce later-stage complications.
Read More: 10 Greatest Female Scientists of All Time
New Breakthrough in LDL Cholesterol Reduction
High cholesterol level in the blood has been the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases across the globe. Studies showed that LDL or Low-Density Lipoproteins were the leading cause of hypercholesterolemia which is the root of different cardiovascular complications.
Until recently, statins were considered the best medication for treating hypercholesterolemia and it requires regular administration. But a recent breakthrough in LDL research has shown inclisiran to have a better effect in reducing the LDL level in blood. The drug was first approved in 2019 and went on as a regular administrative drug in 2022. Compared to statins, inclisiran requires only two administrations per year for effective reduction.
Improved Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes has been a serious problem in the US as well across regions across the globe. The seemingly incurable disease has to be controlled with a strict diet to keep the blood sugar level low. The long-traditional method of controlling type 2 diabetes has been to inject external insulin to make up for the lack of physical production. In most cases, it requires daily administration under the skin.
But a recent breakthrough study suggests that instead of injecting external insulin, glucose-based insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-based peptide can be administered to stimulate the pancreas to naturally produce insulin. Moreover, this drug can be administered once every week.
Read More: How Can Artificial Intelligence Improve Healthcare?
Treatment of Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression is a serious maternity-related problem. Even though the registered cases of the same are low. That is because in most cases, the issue is overlooked and remains undiagnosed. Especially in underdeveloped and developing countries.
If untreated, postpartum depression can cause stress-related mental illness as well as physical harm. A breakthrough study on postpartum depression shows that there is a new therapy. It uses neurosteroids to stimulate the brain away from depression. The therapy is a 60-hour long procedure that needs to be administered after the onset of the first sign.
Breakthrough Treatment for HCM
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a rare yet deadly disease relating to the cardiovascular system of the human body. The disease is often linked to genetic conditions that cause the head muscles to respond irregularly to natural stimuli. And that results in overdriving or spasming the heart.
To this day, there has been no formal cure to treat the problem. Most of the drugs administered are secondary recessive measures for similar cardiovascular problems.
But this new therapy consisting of several treatments using beta blockers, anticoagulants, and other chemicals aims to halt the progression of the disease. While it still won’t be able to cure the disease, it will be able to drastically reduce the progression of the same.
Read More: Successful transplant of pig's heart into a human body for the first time
Motor Movement for Severe Paralysis
Every year, around a quarter to half a million people suffer from some form of paralysis globally. This astounding number not only renders the patient immobile at times but also causes physical deterioration over time.
A group of scientists has come up with a neural signaling process to give back some form of voluntary motor functions to severely paralyzed patients. The technology uses implants to understand brain signals and convert them to motor functions for the paralyzed part using external gear. Currently, the groups are working with hand and body movement.
Micro Robotics for Endodontic Diagnostics
It's fascinating how no two humans in this world have the exact same dental structure. Yet the diagnostics of endodontic treatment doesn’t even go beyond the genders. This seemingly singular diagnostic method is coming to an end thanks to micro robotic applications in the process.
Studies showed that microrobots can be inserted in the root canal without secondary incisions to get a better idea and depth of the problem. Doctors will then be able to tailor patient-specific treatment approaches which were not available before.
Read More: Jute Sanitary Napkins: Bangladeshi scientist Farhana Sultana got awarded for eco-friendly innovation
Optical Fiber Imaging for Alzheimer's Diagnosis
Alzheimer's is still one of those diseases without any cure. Scientists are still trying to understand the underlying cause and the effect it has on the brain on long time progression.
The American Institute of Physics has recently developed an optical fiber imaging system to better understand how Alzheimer's progresses. Doctors now have the highest resolution imaging of the brain to study progression while applying this least invasive method.
Vaccine of Malaria
While the world recovers from the grappling consequence of the pandemic, the scientists at Oxford University have successfully invented a vaccine for one of the leading causes of child mortality in the world, malaria.
The preliminary trial run was conducted on children in Burkina Faso with results suggesting an 80% success rate in preventing the disease. This vaccine which is slated to go on mass production this year would be the single biggest advancement in reducing child mortality in central Africa.
Read More: Telangana's 'Medicines From The Sky' project utilizes drones in health care
Sebum Test for Parkinson’s Diagnostics
Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease follows a long and tedious process that often requires highly invasive procedures. But thanks to the newly developed technology, scientists can now use the sebum produced from the Sebaceous glands to efficiently identify Parkinson’s disease.
Sebum is basically oil secreted from under the skin. Scientists have found that over 500 components of the sebum differ between a regular person and a Parkinson’s patient. The process is not only efficient but also ensures as little invasion in diagnostics as possible.
mRNA Vaccine Research
RNA is a primary component that is used to understand the effect of disease and potentially create a vaccine for the same. Without effective understanding, separation, and purification of RNA, it would take scientists years to come up with a potential cure for any new disease.
Thanks to the ongoing research, we are finally in the next generation of the mRNA vaccine identification process. This technology has been aggregated more by the effective invention and application of the Covid 19 vaccines. With this technology, scientists will now be able to create vaccines or cures for potential new diseases at a much faster rate.
Read More: Top 10 Most Exciting Innovations of 2022 in Technology
Final Words
The year 2022 saw some great advancements in the field of medical sciences. Even though the world is still combatting the effect of the Coronavirus, it is the concerted effort of innovations and technology that has helped to reduce the impact. Besides Covid-19, innovations in different streams have led to more effective diagnosis, cure, and vaccination than was possible before.
So far, we have reviewed 11 pioneer innovations in medical science in 2022. Hopefully, in 2023, medical research will bring more advanced inventions for the greater benefit of human beings.
Alzheimer’s drug approval ‘rife with irregularities’: Probe
The Food and Drug Administration’s contentious approval of a questionable Alzheimer’s drug took another hit Thursday as congressional investigators called the process “rife with irregularities.”
The 18-month investigation by two House committees detailed “atypical collaboration” between FDA regulators and a company it’s supposed to oversee -- Aduhelm manufacturer Biogen. The probe also cited Biogen documents saying the company intended to “make history” when it set what investigators called an “unjustifiably high” initial price of $56,000 a year for the drug.
The criticism comes as the FDA is expected to decide whether to approve another new Alzheimer’s drug in January. Thursday’s report urged the agency to “take swift action” to ensure that any future Alzheimer’s approvals aren’t met with “the same doubts about the integrity of FDA’s review.”
Read more: Drug slows Alzheimer's but can it make a real difference?
The FDA and Biogen issued statements Thursday defending the Aduhelm approval process.
In 2021, the FDA overruled its own independent scientific advisers when it approved Aduhelm even though research studies failed to prove it really helped patients. Biogen had halted two studies after disappointing results suggested the drug wasn’t slowing Alzheimer’s inevitable worsening -- only to later contend that a new analysis of one study showed higher doses offered an incremental benefit.
The FDA argued the drug’s ability to reduce a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, a buildup of plaque in the brain, suggested it was likely to slow the disease. Backlash was immediate as three FDA advisers resigned in protest and the agency’s then-acting chief called for an internal investigation. Eventually Medicare refused to pay for the drug -- even after the yearly price was dropped to $28,000 -- unless patients enrolled in clinical trials to prove if it indeed slowed cognitive decline.
Thursday’s report said FDA and Biogen engaged in an unusually high volume of phone calls, meetings and emails, some of them not properly documented. In addition, the regulators and company spent months working together to prepare a briefing document for FDA’s advisers that didn’t adequately represent substantial disagreement within the FDA about how to handle Aduhelm, the report said.
Read more: Alzheimer's Disease: Symptoms, Causes, Preventions
The investigators recommended that FDA take steps to restore trust in the approval process that include properly documenting interactions with drugmakers. They also urged manufacturers to take into account advice from patient groups and other outside experts on fair drug pricing.
In a statement Thursday, FDA said the Aduhelm decision “was based on our scientific evaluation of the data” and that the agency’s own internal review found its interactions with Biogen were appropriate. But it said it plans to update guidance on Alzheimer’s drug development and will review the investigation’s findings.
In its own statement, Biogen said: “Alzheimer’s is a highly complex disease and we have learned from the development and launch of Aduhelm” but that it “stands by the integrity of the actions we have taken.”