New blood test accurately predicts when people will die — within 5–10 years

The large-scale study got it right for 83 percent of participants. Would you take the blood test?

Photo credit: Miguel Bruna on Unsplash
  • A research team found 14 biomarkers can accurately predict death within 5–10 years.
  • Such a test could help doctors and researchers prescribe better courses of treatments for patients.
  • Information about mortality might inspire people to eat better and exercise more, thus reversing the effects of some biomarkers.
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What makes prions the 'zombie protein'?

How can a misfolded protein be behind some of the strangest and deadliest diseases out there?

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  • Prions don't sound so bad at first blush: they're simply proteins that have the wrong shape.
  • They may sound innocuous, but "catching" prions is always fatal, and there is no cure.
  • Curiously, the most famous case of a prion disease outbreak happened in a cannibalistic tribe in Papua New Guinea.
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New study reveals that reincarnation is real — kind of

Nematodes demonstrate that neurons can influence offspring's genetics.

Photo by Jeremy Horner/LightRocket via Getty Images
  • Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes can transmit information about the environment through neurons to future generations.
  • Research from Tel Aviv University pushes back against the "second law of biology," which states that heritable information is segregated from somatic influences.
  • If applicable to humans, this research could have important uses in medicine.
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Teens should be able to get vaccines without consent from parents, say NY lawmakers

A bill in New York would let older kids get vaccinations against their parents' wishes.

Ethan Lindenberger (R), student at Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Ohio before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2019. (Photo credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Teens 14 and older should be able to get vaccinated on their own, says a new bill in New York.
  • Lawmakers were inspired by Ethan Lindenberger, an Ohio teen who fought to take vaccines against his mom's wishes.
  • Anti-vaccination attitudes have been blamed for recent measles outbreaks.
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Scientists may have found a way to kill cancer cells without chemotherapy

Chemo is our best response to cancer so far. A novel new therapy could render it obsolete.

A nurse is working in a room where patients undergo chemotherapy treatment, on February 6, 2013, at the Oscar Lambret Center in Lille, northern France, a regional medical unit specializing in cancer treatment, which is part of Lille regional hospital. (Photo: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Researchers at Northwestern have discovered a genetic "kill code" that might enable the destruction of cancer cells.
  • This novel new therapy "downstream" of chemo might destroy cancer cells without affecting the body's immune system.
  • While no animal trials have been conducted, this potential therapy could signal the demise of chemotherapy.
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