And remember: Science builds on the science that came before. No one study tells the whole story.
A vaccine for breast cancer
It鈥檚 not often anyone can say they鈥檝e cured cancer, but could be getting really close. They鈥檙e starting a phase 2 clinical trial on humans for a vaccine that targets so-called 鈥淗ER2鈥� breast cancers 鈥� a particularly aggressive type that accounts for . The vaccine is designed to stimulate the body鈥檚 immune system to mount an attack on the cancer cells.
The 13-year phase 1 trial involving 66 women showed promising results: The vaccine was on par with COVID vaccines in terms of side effects, and anecdotally, it improved survival rates significantly. Given these results, the researchers say the vaccine has the potential to prevent or treat these cancers. The university is currently a larger cohort for the phase 2 trial; a phase 3 would then follow if the results continue to show promise.
Read the paper from the journal JAMA Oncology .
Bike Boxes FTW
Heaps of people in the Pacific Northwest commute via bike. and have some of the highest numbers in the country. It鈥檚 great for the environment, but .
Researchers at and are trying to figure out how to make that commute safer. They looked at three different types of bike-friendly intersections: mixing zones where bikes and vehicles use the same lane, bike signals that allow only bikes to cross, and bike boxes that section off the front of a lane with paint to encourage vehicles to hang back. Using a virtual reality-esque setup with a stationary bike, the researchers tracked cyclists鈥� eye movements, stress levels and paths as they went through each kind of intersection.
Turns out bike boxes provided the best balance of safety without lulling the cyclist into a false sense of security.
Read the paper from the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention .
How do we hear? No really. How do we hear?
What actually happens on a molecular level when the inner ear converts vibrations into sounds? Truth is, no one knew 鈥� until now.
recently found the answer by studying roundworms, which on a fundamental level have very similar hearing bits to humans. Five years and 60 million worms later, the team was able to reveal and describe the 鈥渕olecular machinery鈥� that鈥檚 responsible for our sense of balance and what we perceive as sound.
The discovery opens up a whole new world of possible treatments for hearing loss, which affects nearly a half-billion people worldwide.
Read the paper from the journal Nature.
Tiny bubbles 鈥� make me feel fine
Detecting viruses has been a challenge 鈥� they鈥檙e tiny, dispersed and require really sensitive sensors. But wouldn鈥檛 it be nice to know if there were, say, COVID-19 viruses floating around in the room you鈥檙e in?
Researchers at the have figured out a way to do just this 鈥� with teeny-tiny bubbles (200 bubbles = width of a human hair). When COVID interacts with the specially designed surface of a bubble, it causes the bubble to pop, releasing salts that were trapped inside. These salts, and the electronic signal they generate, are much easier to detect than the virus alone.
The scientists say their technology is faster, more sensitive and more accurate than other methods out there. And eventually the bubbles could be modified to detect other substances in the air as well.
Read the paper from the journal MRS Communications .
A cure for the 鈥淥h Dears!鈥�
More than 11,000 deer and elk are hit by and drivers every year. That鈥檚 a lot of damage to ungulates, people and cars alike. A has identified a way to reduce those numbers: stick to daylight savings time year-round.
The team looked at trends in vehicle-deer collisions and how they corresponded with the twice-annual time change. The earlier it gets dark, the more deer get hit. This holds especially true in the autumn in the week after we 鈥渇all back.鈥� Collisions rise by 16%, in part because deer rutting season鈥檚 in full swing. The analysis showed that collisions could be decreased by 2.3% 鈥� that鈥檚 approaching 40,000 deer nationwide 鈥� just by sticking to DST.
have all indicated they want to cut out the time changes, but they need congressional approval to make it happen.
Read the paper from the journal Current Biology .
from 鈥淎ll Science. No Fiction.鈥� on the science of sleep, a drone that can smell things and how solar panels can help sheep and the farmers who raise them.
