Nano-sized particles made from copper and silver are able to kill cancercells with minimal side effects to healthy tissues. This is the promise of new research from the Middle East, who demonstrated a new delivery mechanism for the cancer-killing nanoparticles in cell cultures in the laboratory. If realized clinically, the new treatment approach could offer an alternative to chemotherapy, which comes with some inherent limitations. Chemotherapy drugs tend to have a low tumor specificity and cause unpleasant side effects. On top of this, cancers can develop resistance to these treatments, leading to relapse. The nanoparticle approach, however, can be delivered…

"Vaginal seeding," a controversial practice of exposing babies born by cesarean section to their parent's vaginal fluids after birth, may benefit newborns' gut microbiomes, a new study suggests. Babies born by C-section don't have the same gut microbes as those born vaginally, potentially because they're not exposed to their parent's vaginal microbiome during birth. Studies have shown that the gut microbiomes of cesarean-born newborns more closely resemble the communities of microbes that typically inhabit the skin, rather than the gut. This has raised questions about how birth methods affect babies' development, given evidence that the community of microbes in the…