Even though the new school year is in full swing, kids still have plenty of time to play outside in the sunshine before dinner. Yet as the sun starts to set earlier each night and daylight savings time ends in November, a sneaky form of…

Smokers could soon benefit from new drugs that improve the function of their lungs, owing to the lucky few who smoke for years with little consequence. UK researchers scanned 50,000 smokers and non-smokers, including some who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and identified gene…

New treatments are helping slow the deadly course of a rare lung disease that is on the rise in the U.S. and world-wide. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis leads to a buildup of scar tissue that makes it increasingly difficult for the lungs to function normally and…

A wirelessly powered implant the size of a grain of rice can electrically stimulate the brains of mice as the rodents do what they please. The new gadget could help scientists better understand and treat mental health disorders such as depression, according to a new…

Multiple system atrophy, or MSA, is a rare and horrible disease that will destroy your brain and inevitably kill you, and the study of it has now yielded a major breakthrough in our understanding of brain diseases. Researchers have discovered that MSA is caused by…

Depressed people who display “risky behaviour”, agitation and impulsivity are at least 50% more likely to attempt suicide, a study has found. Research by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) concluded that the behaviour patterns “precede many suicide attempts”. The study said effective prevention measures…

Brain cells in Parkinson’s disease exhaust themselves and die prematurely, burning out like an “overheating motor”, an early study suggests. Canadian researchers say the findings might help explain why only small parts of the brain are affected in the disease. Parkinson’s is caused by a…

A filling is one of the most common procedures carried out by dentists. But just the thought of anesthetic injections followed by the sound of the drill is enough to send shivers down the spine of many people. But a new technology developed by British…