Curiosity Daily

A Pill Made from Poop, Universal Organs, Soothing Baby Pain

Episode Summary

Today, you’ll learn about an interesting way pills made from poop could help millions of people with allergies, how researchers edited the contents of a pair of donor lungs to better match the recipient, and how pain can affect a baby’s development and what parents can do about it.

Episode Notes

Today, you’ll learn about an interesting way pills made from poop could help millions of people with allergies, how researchers edited the contents of a pair of donor lungs to better match the recipient, and how pain can affect a baby’s development and what parents can do about it.

Peanut allergies are being treated in an…interesting new way. 

• "Fecal transplant pills helped some peanut allergy sufferers in a small trial” by
  • https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fecal-transplant-pills-peanut-allergy-clinical-trial-poop-bacteria
• “Good early results with fecal microbiota therapy for peanut-allergic patients” by Bethany Tripp / Boston Children’s Hospital
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944014
• “Fecal matter pills used to treat peanut allergies in Boston study” by Heather Hegedus
  • https://www.boston25news.com/news/fecal-matter-pills-used-to-treat-peanut-allergies-in-boston-study/875577919/
• “Fecal Microbiota Transplant: We Know Its History, but Can We Predict Its Future?” by Todd H. Baron, MD (Mayo Clinic Proceedings)
  • https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(13)00481-3/fulltext
• Peanut allergy facts - NIH
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10200001/

Lungs can now be edited for a better organ donor match. 

• "Researchers Want to Create 'Universal Donor' Lungs” by Sara Harrison
  • https://www.wired.com/story/researchers-want-to-create-universal-donor-lungs/
• “Creating 'universal' transplant organs: New study moves us one step closer.” by Nicoletta Lanese
  • https://www.livescience.com/universal-blood-type-transplant-lungs-study
• "Scientists Say They've Found a Way to Create Universal Donor Lungs" by Ed Cara
  • https://gizmodo.com/universal-donor-lungs-research-1848548951
• “Researchers Investigate How to Make Donated Organs Compatible With Any Blood Type” by Meagan Drillinger
  • https://www.healthline.com/health-news/researchers-investigate-how-to-make-donated-organs-compatible-with-any-blood-type
• “In medical first, kidneys from gene-edited pig implanted into brain-dead patient” by Elizabeth Chuck
  • https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/kidneys-gene-edited-pig-implanted-brain-dead-patient-rcna12928

Pain isn’t just physically bad for babies - it can stunt their development. Here’s how doctors are treating it. 

• "Doctors learned how to save premature infants’ lives. They forgot about pain." by Brian Resnick
  • https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22949159/nicu-babies-pain-treatments-podcast-unexplainable
• “Skin-to-skin contact with a parent may reduce newborn babies’ brain response to pain” by Jason Goodyer
  • https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/skin-to-skin-contact-with-a-parent-may-reduce-newborn-babies-brain-response-to-pain/
• "What parents need to know about pain in newborns" by Claire McCarthy, MD
  • https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-parents-need-to-know-about-pain-in-newborns-201601269076
• “Miracle baby finally leaves NICU after 460 days” by Harper Robinson
  • https://fox8.com/news/miracle-baby-finally-leaves-nicu-after-460-days/

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