A few years ago Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney was looking for a material for 3D printing that simulates bone. The aim was to help surgeons go into a theatre to operate, by giving them more understanding of bones so they can test implants and understand how the material will react when you drill or cut into it. 3D printing has a huge advantage, because you can repeatedly print the bone to the exact size and scale of the child they’re about to do the surgery on. As a result a multidisciplinary team at UNSW Built Environment has developed a bone simulation project with practical application.https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/art-architecture-design/unsw-researcher-using-3d-printing-simulate-
Researchers have found a woman with a rare genetic mutation that has protected her from dementia even though her brain has developed major neurological features of the disease. The woman with an Alzheimer’s-causing mutation and lots of beta-amyloid buildup (red, above) in her brain remained cognitively healthy for decades.This case comes at a time when the Alzheimer’s field needs new approaches after billions of dollars have been spent on developing and testing treatments and many have failed. It has been more than 15 years since the last treatment for dementia was approved, and the few drugs available do not work very well for very long.https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/colombian-woman-s-genes-offer-new-clues-staving-alzheimer-s
Platypus milk is capable of killing bacteria and other microbes thanks to an antibacterial protein. This protein has a highly unusual structure not seen elsewhere in nature (that we know of). The Australian researchers who found the protein hypothesized that, due to its unique structure, the protein might also function differently from our current antibiotics, and that this difference in functionality might mean it can kill bacteria that other drugs can't.www.popsci.com/platypus-milk-bacterial-infections/
