For most creatures, oxygen is life. But biology is complicated, and researchers hoping to treat diseases in which our cells’ energy-providing machinery is faulty now suggest the opposite may also be true: Depriving cells of oxygen could be a boon to health. The unexpected idea has been tested only in…

Sepsis is a surprisingly common life-threatening illness in U.S. hospitals, contributing to as many as half of all deaths there, according to a 2014 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Around 250,000 Americans die each year from the condition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has…

After its emergency meeting on Zika virus two weeks ago, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan wrote in an official statement, “the Committee advised that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes an ‘extraordinary event’…

Encapsulated pancreatic cells offer possible new diabetes treatment. In patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the pancreas, eventually leaving patients without the ability to naturally control blood sugar. These patients must carefully monitor the amount of sugar in their blood, measuring it several times a day…

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the pending induction of Elfar Adalsteinsson, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), MIT Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Institute for Medical…