Science & Health Oct 3, 2013

New focused gene scans solve mysterious diseases

They were mystery diseases that had stumped doctors for years — adults with strange symptoms and children with neurological problems, mental slowness or muscles too weak to let them stand. Now scientists say they have been able to crack a quarter of these cases ...

Science & Health Oct 2, 2013

Man uses thought to control robotic leg via rerouted nerves

A man missing his lower leg has gained precise control over a prosthetic limb just by thinking about moving it — all because his unused nerves were preserved during the amputation and rerouted to his thigh, where they can be used to communicate with ...

Science & Health Oct 1, 2013

Once infertile woman gives birth after novel Japanese surgical experiment

A 30-year-old infertile woman gave birth after surgeons removed her ovaries and re-implanted tissue they treated in a lab, in an experimental technique that could help women in their early 40s who have trouble getting pregnant because of their age, Japanese researchers find.

Science & Health Sep 14, 2013

Regeneration of tissues in body may be possible: study

Scientists in Spain say they have succeeded in making mature cells in living mice revert to their youthful, versatile state — a step toward the goal of regenerating tissue by using stem cells. Right now, the technique is at its earliest stage and is ...

Science & Health Sep 4, 2013

New invention a sight for sore eyes

by Irene Wairimu

Simon Kamau, 26, has been in almost constant pain since he was a playful 3-year-old and accidentally pierced his eye with a sharp object. Now, though, smartphone technology now offers hope. His family lives in an impoverished part of rural Naivasha in Kenya’s Rift ...

Science & Health Aug 14, 2013

Honeybee sting acupuncture creates a buzz

Patients in China are swarming to acupuncture clinics to be given bee stings to treat or ward off life-threatening illness, practitioners say. More than 27,000 people have undergone the painful technique — each session can involve dozens of punctures — at Wang Menglin’s clinic ...

Science & Health Aug 9, 2013

New malaria vaccine type shows huge early promise

A new kind of malaria vaccine that mimics the effect of mosquito bites has shown early promise by offering 100 percent protection to a dozen human volunteers, researchers said Thursday. The experimental vaccine, called PfSPZ and produced by the Maryland-based company Sanaria, contains live ...

Social Issues Aug 4, 2013

A year later, couple grapples with life after assault

by Keith L. Alexander

Thomas “TC” Maslin easily reads to himself the local newspaper or latest issue of the Economist. Reading aloud a simple children’s book is another story. “Five little ducks went out one day. Over the hills and far away. The woman duck said quack, quack, ...

Science & Health Aug 2, 2013

Why acupuncture is giving doubters the needle

by David Derbyshire

You can’t get crystal healing on the National Health Service. It doesn’t fund faith healing. And most doctors believe magnets are best stuck on fridges, not patients. But ask for a treatment in which an expert examines your tongue, smells your skin and tries ...