Questions abound about whether the scientist who created the first gene edited human beings took shortcuts in the ethical oversight process. But pedantically focusing on protocol misses the point.
Reconstructive surgery carried out between 1916 and 1918.
Wellcome Images
Once associated with mind-control experiments and counter-cultural defiance, psychedelics now show great promise for mental health treatments and may prompt a re-evaluation of the scientific method.
Big data research could improve medical outcomes and reduce the waste of resources.
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If we want My Health Record data to be made available for medical research we need to make it opt in, not opt out. We'll have a smaller dataset, but at least it will be ethically defensible.
In the medical culture of the Bugis and Makassar peoples in Indonesia the word koroq
means that the penis is actually shrinking, or retracting, but the Dutch in the 19th-century East Indies did not believe it was real.
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Koro is widely believed to be a culturally localised delusion. But a theory that it's a fight-or-flight reflex might be corroborated by studying traditional healing treatments in Indonesia.
The journal initially only published articles by European physicians. But in the 20th century a number of Indonesians, who became founders of respected medical institutions, published there too.
There's more to Tourette syndrome than swearing and shouting. Over the last several years, many life-altering treatments of this tic disorder have become available to patients and their families.
Medical researchers should be conducting life-saving research, not spending half their time writing grants.
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Australian medical researchers are under intense pressure to find funds to continue their research, and there is some optimism that the latest NHMRC funding changes will help.
Many in the Western Front contracted haemorrhagic dysentery.
Wellcome Library, London
When commemorating our troops, doctors and nurses this Anzac Day, consider also tipping your hat to the discovery of bacteriophages. In the post-antibiotic era, our health might just depend on them.
Small intestinal organoids growing in culture.
Louise Thompson
Most people know they can donate their organs after they pass away. But what about their medical data? For National Donor Day, we suggest countries create national databases of data donors.
President Barack Obama signs the 21st Century Cures Act on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in Washington.
Kevin Wolf/AP Images for Parker Foundation
Lowering the threshold for FDA approval and feeding the agency less rigorous information will increase the likelihood of approvals of unsafe or ineffective drugs and devices.
IQ decline is highest among those who started using during adolescence and among the most persistent (daily) users.
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After almost four-and-a half decades and from modest beginnings, the Dunedin study has evolved into one of the most significant long-term tracking studies in the world.
Who are the winners and losers from recent medical research funding announcements?
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The recent NHMRC funding announcement has renewed criticism about how medical research is funded in Australia. Is the system fair? Or is it stacked against some researchers?
Director, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute & Professor of Medical Biology, and an honorary principal fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute