Kenneth McLeod, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Researchers are looking for ways to determine who’s most at risk for dementia and also ways to detect it early. A scientist who has studied low blood pressure makes a case for a link between the two.
From cutting-edge research, to public education, journalism and even schoolkid scientists, Australia’s best science was on display at the annual Eureka Prizes.
Long-term or historical use of oral contraceptives may lead to an increased risk of depression in later years; understanding the risk will better inform the decision whether or not to take the pill.
Thomas Durcan’s lab is growing 3D mini-brains in the search for a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Over the next year he is giving all his lab’s protocols, methods and results away.
Deliberately infecting people with a disease-causing agent as part of carefully considered medical research can be ethically acceptable or even necessary.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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