Liam Drew, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

Cancer more deadly when tumours lack Y chromosomes - and the loss could be contagious

3 days ago | nature.com | Liam Drew

The cancer cells of some men feature a striking mutation: their Y chromosome is missing altogether. Now, tantalizing research suggests that this mutation can spread ‘contagiously’ from tumour cells to immune cells, which lose their cancer-fighting prowess after their Y chromosome disappears. The evidence for the contagion mechanism is not definitive.
How vanishing Y chromosomes could help explain men's ill health

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Liam Drew

Women, on average, live longer than men. This trend can be seen as far back as records stretch, and is true of every country in the world today. Many explanations have been put forward: men take more risks or smoke more, oestrogen is protective against health conditions, two X chromosomes are better than one… the list goes on. Some of these can account for small fractions of the difference; many have been debunked. None are wholly satisfying.
Does education help build a cognitive reserve to ward off dementia?

Mar 7, 2025 | newscientist.com | Liam Drew

In 1972, the UK government raised the minimum school-leaverâ€™s age from 15 to 16, with the goal of giving more students intellectual skills for modern occupations. Now, as these teens pass though their sixties, another benefit may be emerging: a lower risk of dementia. But with research from other groups muddying the waters, this relationship is far from clear-cut. The idea that education protects against dementia isnâ€™t new. Yaakov Stern at Columbia University in New York proposed it in…
Want to get a species protected? Publish in a small, niche journal

Jan 28, 2025 | nature.com | Liam Drew

Plants and animals that gain protection by US law owe much more to studies published in small, specialist journals than they do to those published in prestigious titles such as Nature and Science. That’s the finding of a study1 that tracked citations linked to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a US law designed to protect and support the recovery of species at risk of extinction.
Making kidney tests work for everyone

Dec 12, 2024 | nature.com | Liam Drew

In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement forced the United States to reckon with systemic racism and its causes and manifestations. Driven partially by the disproportionate toll that the COVID-19 pandemic had on African Americans, the protests forced the medical community to question how to address racial health disparities, including how clinical practice itself can perpetuate systemic racism. One prominent issue was the racial categories that are used in medical diagnostics.
Scientists reveal 'neural tourniquet' that can stop bleeding with nerve stimulation

Dec 3, 2024 | livescience.com | Liam Drew

Zapping the vagus nerve promotes blood clotting, new research suggests. These findings are the first evidence in humans of a "neural tourniquet," or a brain-based pathway that could reduce bleeding, said study co-author Dr. Jared Huston, a trauma surgeon at the Firestein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health in New York.
Comment la grossesse transforme le cerveau

Nov 20, 2024 | cerveauetpsycho.fr | Liam Drew

En novembre 2008, la neuroscientifique Susana Carmona – alors post-doctorante à l’université Charles-III de Madrid, où elle menait des recherches sur le trouble déficitaire de l’attention avec hyperactivité – conduisait en voiture deux collègues à une fête, lorsque l’une d’entre elles annonça qu’elle envisageait d’avoir un enfant. Une joyeuse nouvelle qui les amena à discuter de la manière dont la grossesse pourrait affecter le cerveau de la future maman.
Targeting the racial disparity in kidney disease

Sep 18, 2024 | yahoo.com | Liam Drew

The result was exciting. Thirteen people with serious kidney disease given a new type of drug for three months had, on average, seen the amount of protein pathologically leaking into their urine fall by almost 50 percent. In this elemental test of kidney function, some participants saw an improvement of more than 70 percent. But other things make this clinical trial, published in March 2023, stand out further. The first is the rapidity with which a scientific discovery led to a targeted therapy.
Targeting the racial disparity in kidney disease

Sep 18, 2024 | knowablemagazine.org | Liam Drew

The result was exciting. Thirteen people with serious kidney disease given a new type of drug for three months had, on average, seen the amount of protein pathologically leaking into their urine fall by almost 50 percent. In this elemental test of kidney function, some participants saw an improvement of more than 70 percent. But other things make this clinical trial, published in March 2023, stand out further. The first is the rapidity with which a scientific discovery led to a targeted therapy.
Faecal transplants can treat some cancers - but probably won’t ever be widely used

Jul 4, 2024 | nature.com | Liam Drew

In February 2021, a pair of remarkable clinical trials was published1,2. Each one involved people with melanoma. Some participants had been successfully treated using drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors, which help the body to destroy cancer cells. The others had failed to respond to the treatment. In both studies, researchers collected stool samples from the people who had benefited from the immunotherapy.