New research suggests chemicals in flavoured vapes could be highly toxic when heated.
Researchers used AI to simulate the effects of heating chemicals found in 180 vape flavours, and found that 505 hazardous chemicals are formed as a result of vaping, including 127 which are acutely toxic - meaning they pose significant adverse health effects after immediate or short-term exposures - and 153 health hazards.
Liquid flavourings in e-cigarettes come from the food industry where they are safe, but they are then heated to high temperatures so that it forms vapour which is then inhaled.
The researchers said these flavourings weren’t intended to be heated to high temperatures and inhaled, and suggested the number of chemical entities in e-liquids should be restricted.
An 18-month old girl who was born deaf has had her hearing restored as the first patient on a new groundbreaking gene therapy trial.
Opal was born with auditory neuropathy, a condition caused by the disruption of nerve impulses travelling from the inner ear to the brain, due to a fault in the OTOF gene.
Last September she received an infusion containing the working gene to her right ear, and just four weeks later her parents noticed her hearing improving, when she reacted to the sound of loud clapping.
In February this year, 24 weeks after surgery, tests in Cambridge showed Opal could also hear soft sounds like a whisper, and it’s thought her hearing could improve even further.
AstraZeneca has announced it is withdrawing its covid vaccine from the market, due to plummeting demand.
In December 2020, the vaccine became the second Covid-19 jab to be approved for use in the UK, after being developed by scientists in Oxford.
Estimates suggest that the rollout of the jab saved 6.3 million lives around the world.
But AstraZeneca said that the rise of new variants in the virus which causes Covid-19 has shifted market demand towards newer vaccines, designed to better tackle those variants.
A new AI model developed by Google Deepmind has shown it can be used to predict how all of life’s molecules interact with each other with “unprecedented accuracy”.
The team behind the program, called AlphaFold 3, say it could help supercharge the hunt for new drugs and treatments for diseases including cancer, Parkinson’s, tuberculosis and more.
The AI tool is able to accurately predict the structure of proteins, DNA, RNA, and other molecules, how they interact, and how the smallest of changes in these can affect biological functions that can lead to diseases.
It can also help scientists predict how these molecules will interact with potential treatments, such as antibodies and drugs.
Also in this episode:
Study: AI chatbots that simulate the dead risk digitally haunting the bereaved
Tiny wraparound implants ‘represent new approach for spinal cord injuries’
Has China sent a secret robot to the moon?
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