21 Americans die each day waiting for organ transplants; more than 123,000 are waiting right now. A new study from Penn Medical researchers shows that family consent rates for organ donation vary widely across the US, disputing the notion that race is the most important factor. Donation rates are lowest in New York State and highest in the Midwest.
Pope Francis has now declared that allowing migrants to die at sea is an "attack against life" similar to euthanasia or abortion. This announcement comes as the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers dying in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Libya have skyrocketed in the past year-30 times more than during the same months of 2014, almost 1,800 according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Researchers from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have created their own "blue light special" for mice-but this one helps them recall memories that had been suppressed. Their study, published in the journal Science, also suggests something even more profound: even memories that have been assumed to be lost after traumatic injury to the brain may still exist, and be retrievable.
In a recent clinical trial, more than half of the terminal cancer patients participating have experienced significant shrinking of their tumors, and in some cases, their complete disappearance. The new class of immunotherapy drugs appears likely to be a game changer for cancer sufferers. The research was announced at the recent annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology where it was described as "spectacular."
