Voting commences on research prize determined by public poll

It’s an off year in the US election cycle, which means that neither the President nor most members of Congress will face the voters come November. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still cast a ballot this fall. Today, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston announced the finalists for the second annual BRIght Futures Prize, a $100,000 research contest in which the winner is decided by a public poll. Voting is now open through 21 November.  Read more

Yale immunologist wins new €4 million award

Yale immunologist wins new €4 million award

Most scientists will say that they go to the lab every day out of a pure love of science, not to make buckets of money. But for researchers at the pinnacle of their fields, science can be a lucrative trade. Win a Nobel Prize, and you could take home more than $1.2 million. Bag a Templeton Prize, and you could be depositing a $1.7 million check. Net a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, first awarded earlier this year, and you’d walk away with a cool $3 million.  Read more

3D-printed material has tissue-like properties

A rubbery material made using a three-dimensional printer can transmit electrical signals and mechanically fold like biological tissue in predictable ways. The work, published in this week’s issue of Science by researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, could pave the way for tissue engineering, controlled drug release technologies or other medical applications.  Read more

‘FlyWalker’ tracks insect feet, could advance Parkinson’s research

They may have wings, but fruit flies spend plenty of time on their feet. And these insects, also known as Drosophila, are a standard animal model for studying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and even Alzhiemer’s.  Read more