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Researchers at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s have grown small human brain replicas to aid the study of neurological diseases in a way that may result into better treatments and even cures for cognitive and neurological ailments.

This is a comparatively fresh field of scientific research that can possibly revolutionize the way the new drugs are tested for effectiveness by conducting drug testing on human cells instead of on lab animals. The method may offer more exact test results and assist in the development of new, more useful drugs.

The genes of the human skin cells were reprogrammed by the scientists to make them akin to embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any type of tissue. Thereafter, these stem cells were nurtured to turn into brain cells.

A latest study suggested that a popular class of heartburn medications could increase senior patient’s risk of dementia. This group of drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), including Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid, functions by decreasing the amount of acid formed in the stomach.

However, German researchers have discovered that people 75 or above, who take the medications regularly had a 44% increased chance of suffering from dementia, in comparison to seniors not consuming the drugs. The study has also discovered a link, however, and not a cause-and-effect association.

Wake Forest University’s team of scientists has printed out living human body parts, such as ears, muscles and jawbones, using a combination of living cells and a special gel.

The move has come up as an advance on earlier attempts, which included making a plastic scaffold and then trying to get cells to grow in and on it, or that printed out organ shapes that came out as being too floppy and dying, after some time.

The latest approach has mixed live cells with a gel, starting out as a liquid but rapidly hardens to the constancy of living tissue, and layers them in with very small tunnels serving as passages for nutrients for feeding the cells until blood vessels can grow in and perform the job naturally.

Demolition work at the Pennsylvania University (UPENN) has raised fear for some precious and ancient artifacts at Penn Museum. The authorities decided to shift them elsewhere following concerns over their fragility. A 23-story medical office tower and 850-car parking garage is being demolished to give way to a hospital pavilion, which will be constructed soon.

Researchers have tracked hunting pattern of beluga whales for the first time, thanks to an advanced tagging technology. A study featured in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series revealed that two distinct beluga whale populations dive upward of 900 meters in an attempt to search for Arctic cod.

The researchers at the University of Washington used advanced tagging technology to discover the foraging route of the marine mammals. They collected and analyzed data on 30 beluga whales in the Arctic over last one and half decades. According to researchers, they found that the two species of the whale spend a long time in the Bering Sea during winters and then head towards the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida has been treating a group of sea turtles rescued from frigid waters off the Florida coast. Hospital officials are expecting that more cold-stunned turtles may be delivered soon.

According to the hospital, seven green sea turtles are being treated which were found swimming lethargically in -57 degrees water. Staff at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium rescued the turtles, which were found amid some dead ones.

The cold-stunned turtles were taken to the hospital. Some of the animals died after arriving, informed hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach. Out of the rescued ones, four will undergo surgeries. The surgical procedure will be performed to remove tumors caused by fibropapillomatosis, Zirkelbach said.