Carissa Wong
Health Reporter at New Scientist
Health reporter @newscientist. She/Her 🏳️🌈 email: carissa.wong#newscientist.com, now @carissacwwong.bsky.social
Articles
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3 weeks ago |
newscientist.com | Carissa Wong
A retinal implant has partly restored vision in blind mice, suggesting it could one day benefit people with conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, which involves a progressive loss of light-sensitive cells from the retina.
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3 weeks ago |
newscientist.com | Carissa Wong
How do you tell if something is real or imaginary? We have now discovered a brain pathway that seems to help you decide – and the finding could improve treatments for hallucinations caused by conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. We already knew that the parts of the brain that activate when we imagine something visual are similar to those involved in perceiving actual visual stimuli, but it is unclear how we distinguish between the two.
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3 weeks ago |
newscientist.com | Carissa Wong
A device that massages the face and neck boosts the brain’s waste disposal system, suggesting it could reduce the severity of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Our brains are bathed in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that is pumped into the brain before leaving through a network of thin tubes called glymphatic vessels.
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1 month ago |
newscientist.com | Carissa Wong
Two of the biggest health concerns of the modern age – ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and microplastics – have one thing in common: we don’t actually know if or how they harm our health. But researchers are proposing a bold new idea: that these problems are actually linked, and UPFs contain especially high levels of microplastics that worsen mental health. “We know ultra-processed foods have microplastics. We know that ultra-processed foods are also associated with depression and anxiety.
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1 month ago |
newscientist.com | Carissa Wong
If you have dense breast tissue, you could benefit from an extra round of cancer screening, according to a large trial that found this caught tumours that were missed in standard mammograms. The UK’s health services offer mammograms, a form of X-ray scan, between the ages of 50 and 71 in order to screen for breast cancer. These look for white growths that are indicative of cancer.
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Our brains contain “banana” neurons that fire electrical signals when we see or smell the fruit, or even just hear the word “banana”. Read about @humansingleunit's cool study on how we smell, in my latest for @newscientist. https://t.co/J8uImYR3Ou
Will you live to 100? Probably not, as growth in life expectancy is slowing in wealthier countries. Researchers, including @sjayolshansky, share thoughts on what's behind the slowdown in my piece for @newscientist. https://t.co/2t8VtHTDue
Tobacco plants have been engineered to produce the exercise supplement creatine, suggesting it could one day be grown in edible plants. Read more @newscientist. Thanks to Pengxiang Fan @ZJU_China and @JoseAntonioPhD. https://t.co/k4SgbOxWg4