https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The human kidney filters about a cup of blood every minute, removing waste, excess fluid, and toxins from it, while also regulating blood pressure, balancing important electrolytes, activating Vitamin D, and helping the body produce red blood cells. This broad range of functions is achieved in part via the kidney's complex organization. In its outer region, more than a million microscopic units, known as nephrons, filter blood, reabsorb necessary nutrients, and secrete waste in the form of urine. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bioengineers-perfusable-kidney-ducts-3d.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:21:51 EST news689876461 Mitochondria turn the food we eat into the energy our cells can use. But when stress hijacks the process they use to maintain their quality, they get snipped into useless fragments and go into a tailspin that spreads from cell to cell and triggers a wide range of human diseases. As researchers learn more about the health impacts of rogue mitochondria, they've been searching for ways to prevent or treat them. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-sp11-molecule-reverses-mitochondrial-fragmentation.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 22 May 2025 11:29:04 EDT news667132141 New research in FEBS Open Bio reveals insights into the venom of two of the most venomous fish species on Earth: the estuarine stonefish (Synanceia horrida) and the reef stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa), which are typically found in the warm and shallow regions of the Indo-Pacific region, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-scientists-molecular-composition-potentially-deadly.html Ecology Wed, 20 Nov 2024 09:21:05 EST news651316858 Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have evidence to potentially overturn a prevailing belief in a type of important signaling within cells. The mainstream idea is that a single protein receptor molecule—a kind of flag on the cell surface—spurs the activity of up to hundreds of downstream protein molecules to produce a signal. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-scientists-thought-knew-nose.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Aug 2022 09:24:04 EDT news580119842 For more affordable, sustainable drug options than we have today, the medication we take to treat high blood pressure, pain or memory loss may one day come from engineered bacteria, cultured in a vat like yogurt. And thanks to a new bacterial tool developed by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, the process of improving drug manufacturing in bacterial cells may be coming sooner than we thought. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-scientists-hijack-bacteria-ease-drug.html Biochemistry Thu, 07 Jul 2022 11:52:03 EDT news576413521 A cocktail of prescription drugs—from blood pressure medications to opioids—has found its way into the flesh of South Florida's population of bonefish, one of the state's most sought-after game fish, according to a study released this week. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-cocktail-drugs-sewage-taint-bonefish.html Plants & Animals Mon, 07 Feb 2022 12:25:12 EST news563459107 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have developed and implemented a new way to better understand how human cells communicate with each other, how this communication is disrupted in human diseases and how this can be corrected pharmacologically. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-artificial-genes-cellular-responses-drugs.html Biotechnology Mon, 06 Jul 2020 13:29:16 EDT news513260953 People with chronic diseases like arthritis, diabetes and heart disease may one day forego the daily regimen of pills and, instead, receive a scheduled dosage of medication through a grape-sized implant that is remotely controlled. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-remote-controlled-drug-delivery-implant-size.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 25 Jun 2019 02:13:20 EDT news480647585 Nitric oxide (NO) prevents high blood pressure and artery plaque build-up in our body. However, its duplicity is revealed when it causes serious inflammatory disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-nitric-oxide-scavenging-hydrogel-rheumatoid-arthritis.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 04 Jun 2019 11:37:15 EDT news478867027 Last month alone, 23 percent of Americans took two or more prescription drugs, according to one CDC estimate, and 39 percent over age 65 take five or more, a number that's increased three-fold in the last several decades. And if that isn't surprising enough, try this one: in many cases, doctors have no idea what side effects might arise from adding another drug to a patient's personal pharmacy. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-artificial-intelligence-drug-combinations-side.html Computer Sciences Tue, 10 Jul 2018 02:07:29 EDT news450407239 In a new study, researchers have mapped out a stew of discarded pharmaceuticals dissolved throughout the Hudson River. They say that in some places, levels may be high enough to affect aquatic life. The research appears in the early online edition of the journal Water Research. https://phys.org/news/2018-02-high-drugs-hudson-river.html Environment Tue, 20 Feb 2018 08:52:26 EST news438339135 Metallic nanomolecules capable of carrying drugs to exactly where they are needed could one day help to treat patients with a fatal lung condition. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-nano-sized-drug-carriers-future-patients.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 03 Jul 2017 09:30:43 EDT news418293034 Drugs are combined in endless ways—chemotherapy and anti-nausea pills; Advil and multivitamins; blood pressure medication and anti-depressants. Include treatments such as the herbs and acupuncture of traditional Chinese medicine, and the number of arrangements increases further. https://phys.org/news/2017-01-problem-potential-solution-combining-drugs.html Biochemistry Tue, 10 Jan 2017 07:01:38 EST news403254091 Beads, disks, bowls and rods: scientists at Radboud University have demonstrated the first methodological approach to control the shapes of nanovesicles. This opens doors for the use of nanovesicles in biomedical applications, such as drug delivery in the body. Nature Communications will publish these results on 25 August. https://phys.org/news/2016-08-nanovesicles.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 25 Aug 2016 09:44:11 EDT news391337039 Over the past decade, interest has been rising in fermented dairy foods that promote health and could potentially prevent diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure). Functional dairy products that lower blood pressure and heart rate may offer consumers an effective alternative to antihypertensive drugs if their effectiveness can be demonstrated. Investigators reporting in the Journal of Dairy Science review the scientific basis of reported claims and identify opportunities for developing products based on new lactic acid bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2016-05-antihypertensive-effect-fermented-products-microscope.html Other Mon, 23 May 2016 14:13:54 EDT news383231625 An experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has revealed in atomic detail how a hypertension drug binds to a cellular receptor that plays a key role in regulating blood pressure. The results could help scientists design new drugs that better control blood pressure while limiting side effects. https://phys.org/news/2015-04-x-ray-aid-blood-pressure-drugs.html Biochemistry Thu, 23 Apr 2015 12:00:07 EDT news349007237 (Phys.org)—Virginia Tech researchers have discovered a potential way to create a new kind of anticoagulant drug commonly called a blood thinner.  https://phys.org/news/2012-12-potential-blood-thinner-unmasks-cancer.html Biochemistry Thu, 06 Dec 2012 06:36:30 EST news273998079 (Phys.org)—Research led by the University of Bath has identified two possible new routes for developing novel drugs for high blood pressure and heart disease. https://phys.org/news/2012-10-snake-venom-heart-disease-drugs.html Biochemistry Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:46:58 EDT news269074004 UK-led scientists have made a discovery about snake venom that could lead to the development of new drugs to treat a range of life-threatening conditions like cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. https://phys.org/news/2012-09-insight-snake-venom-evolution-aid.html Biochemistry Wed, 19 Sep 2012 07:06:18 EDT news267257171 A new system for delivering a drug to organ transplant patients, which could avoid the risk of harmful side effects, is being developed by scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. https://phys.org/news/2012-01-transplant-drug-side-effects.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:13:27 EST news246795188 Who would have thought that Gila monster saliva would be the inspiration for a blockbuster new drug for Type 2 diabetes? Or that medicines for chronic pain, heart attacks, high blood pressure and stroke would emerge from venom of the Magician's cone snail, the saw-scaled viper, the Brazilian lancehead snake and the Southeastern pygmy rattlesnake? These are just some of the sources contributing to the emergence of potential new drugs based on "peptides" that is the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. Peptides are short sequences of amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. https://phys.org/news/2011-06-gifts-gila-monster.html Other Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:37:02 EDT news226147009 (PhysOrg.com) -- A small turbine located inside a millimeters-wide human artery could harvest enough energy from blood flow to power implanted medical devices, such as pacemakers and drug-delivery pumps. The concept has been presented by researchers at the University of Bern and the Bern University of Applied Sciences during the Microtechnologies in Medicine and Biology conference in Lucerne, Switzerland, earlier this month. https://phys.org/news/2011-05-tiny-turbine-human-artery-harvests.html Engineering Fri, 20 May 2011 12:05:24 EDT news225111902 In findings that advance scientists' understanding of a whole class of inherited disorders, a team from The Scripps Research Institute has shed light on a mechanism that enables a potential treatment for Gaucher's disease and other lysosomal storage diseases. https://phys.org/news/2010-05-scientists-potential-treatment-gaucher-disease.html Biochemistry Sun, 09 May 2010 13:00:12 EDT news192547160 Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter have synthesized a new molecule which releases hydrogen sulfide (H2S) - the gas that gives rotten eggs their characteristic smell and which has recently been found to be produced naturally in the body - and discovered that it could in time lead to a range of new, safer and effective anti-inflammatory drugs for human use. https://phys.org/news/2009-05-anti-inflammatory-effect-rotten-eggs-gas.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2009 06:40:14 EDT news162106769