A recently launched Phase 1 clinical trial is examining the safety and feasibility of a groundbreaking treatment approach for Parkinson’s disease in which a patient’s stem cells are reprogrammed to replace dopamine cells in the brain. The clinical trial, based on more than three decades of research, has treated three-of-six participants who will be tracked for more than a year.

Higher levels of the minerals copper and manganese in pregnant women were associated with lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of developing high blood pressure decades later, according to a long-term study.

The discovery of a novel approach to promote cardiomyocyte proliferation offers new hope for the treatment of ischemic heart failure.

When they weave their webs, spiders pull their silk threads. New simulations show stretching during spinning causes the protein chains within the fibers to align and the number of hydrogen bonds between those chains to increase. Both factors increase the silk fibers’ overall strength and toughness. Insights could be applied to designing stronger, tougher synthetic materials.

Until now, artificial gels have either managed to replicate high stiffness or natural skin’s self-healing properties, but not both. Now, a team of researchers has developed a hydrogel with a unique structure that overcomes earlier limitations, opening the door to applications such as drug delivery, wound healing, soft robotics sensors and artificial skin.

Researchers have discovered techniques to bestow superpowers upon sapphire, a material that most of us think of as just a pretty jewel.

Researchers have enabled a man who is paralyzed to control a robotic arm through a device that relays signals from his brain to a computer. He was able to grasp, move and drop objects just by imagining himself performing the actions.

A sweeping study for the first time tallies butterfly data from more than 76,000 surveys across the continental United States. The results: Butterflies — all of them — are disappearing.

A study has demonstrated how neurons in the human brain generate memories and establish narratives. Contrary to previous beliefs, individual neurons represent the concepts we learn, regardless of the context in which we encounter them. This allows humans, unlike other animals, to establish higher and more abstract relationships, which lays the foundation of human intelligence.

Studying the orbits of thousands of exoplanets shows that large planets tend to have elliptical orbits, while smaller planets tend to have more circular orbits. This split coincides with several other classic features in the exoplanet population, such as the high abundance of small planets over large planets and a tendency for giant planets to only form around stars enriched in heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon and iron. The finding points toward two distinct pathways for forming small and large planets.