Immune System, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 28, 2017

Goya's Mystery Illness: Nearly 200 Years Later, Docs Have a Diagnosis

The famous Spanish painter Francisco Goya suffered a mysterious illness and lost his hearing at the age of 46, and now experts may have figured out why. Goya is considered the most important Spanish painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. But in the middle of his career,...

Jun 7, 2017

How Your Belly Fat Is Linked to Your Immune System

You may not love your belly fat, but one large sheet of fat that stretches across your abdomen serves an important purpose: This fat, called the omentum, plays a role in the immune system, according to a new review. No matter your weight, everybody has an omentum. The fatty structure...

Jul 21, 2017

How 'Bad' Gut Bacteria Can Change Their Evil Ways

Could the idea that there are good and bad bacteria be a false dichotomy? A study appearing today (July 21) in the journal Science Immunology suggests so. In a study on mice, scientists found that a group of bacteria called Helicobacter, long associated with ulcers, stomach cancer and intestinal distress,...

Sep 14, 2017

Why Selena Gomez Needed a Kidney Transplant

A photo posted by on Singer Selena Gomez revealed today (Sept. 14) that she recently had a kidney transplant due to complications from lupus. But how does lupus affect the kidneys, and why do people with the condition sometimes need kidney transplants? In an Instagram post, Gomez, who is 25,...

Dec 8, 2017

'American Murderer' Worm Strips To Evade Your Immune System

A new study finds that the killer, the parasitic hookworm Necator americanus — nicknamed the American Murderer — may slither out of its skin to evade the immune systems of an estimated 700 million infected people around the world. (The worm earned its alias because it's commonly found in the...

Mar 6, 2018

Tattoos Last Forever Because Your Immune Cells Are Hungry for Dead Skin

You can thank your immune system for many things — such as preventing your body from turning into an alien fungus or permitting you to live outside of a plastic bubble. You can also thank your immune system for keeping your dope new shoulder tattoo from flaking off with the...

Oct 23, 2018

Salmonella Hides Its Tail to Stay Invisible to Immune System

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone to say something good about Salmonella, a pervasive family of bacteria that sickens more than a million people each year in the United States. But as bad as Salmonella's reputation is, the bug is certainly good at something: infecting us and causing misery. And...

Oct 25, 2018

People with Psoriasis More Likely to Develop Certain Gut Disorders

People with psoriasis may be at greater risk of developing certain gut disorders, a new study finds. The research discovered that people with psoriasis, an inflammatory skin condition, were about two times more likely to develop the gut disorders Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis compared to people in the general...

Nov 30, 2018

This Gene Can Make Viruses Invisible to the Immune System — Up to a Point

Our immune system is great at protecting us from the germs that surround us everyday — but every machine has its kinks. One gene, which protects the body from autoimmune disorders (in which the body attacks itself), also helps secretly usher in viruses by making them undetectable. But how the...

Jan 14, 2019

What Are Corticosteroids?

Corticosteroids are synthetic drugs that are used to treat a wide variety of disorders, including asthma, arthritis, skin conditions and autoimmune diseases. The drug mimics cortisol, a hormone that's naturally produced by the adrenal glands in healthy people. Cortisol, commonly called the stress hormone, is a steroid hormone (not to...

Jan 22, 2019

Tiny, Previously Undiscovered Capillaries May Exist Inside People's Bones

Our bones may be filled with previously undiscovered networks of microscopic tunnels, a new study finds. These tiny tunnels — spotted in lab mice and traces of it in one inquisitive researcher — may be vital for transporting immune cells out of bones, where they are made. In the study,...

May 7, 2019

First-Ever Video Shows Immune System Blowing Holes in Bacteria

A microscopic video of the human immune system in action reveals how our bodies blow tiny holes in foreign bacteria, while leaving our own cells intact. The video and study, published yesterday (May 6) in the journal Nature Communications, offers the clearest view yet into the mechanisms of the human...

Sep 28, 2019

Washing Machines May Sometimes Harbor Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Report Says

Washing machines have one job — to clean — but that doesn't mean they're germ-free. Indeed, a new study suggests they can sometimes harbor drug-resistant bacteria that could pose risks to susceptible people. The study researchers describe a unique case in which a washing machine was linked to the spread...

Nov 15, 2019

World's Oldest People May Have Supercharged Immune Cells

The secret to living past 110 may be an increase in killer cells in the bloodstream. New research finds that supercentenarians, or people who make it to 110 years of age or older, have higher-than-typical concentrations of a particularly rare type of T helper cell in their blood. These immune...

Jul 17, 2020

What are antibodies?

Antibodies are specialized, Y-shaped proteins that bind like a lock-and-key to the body's foreign invaders — whether they are viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. They are the search battalion of the immune system's search-and-destroy system, tasked with finding an enemy and marking it for destruction. They're released from the cell...