Some interesting science I've been looking into

Viruses that attack bacteria, the immunology of breast milk, and how your DNA remembers fear. A little February round up of the cool science I’ve been digging into this month:


1️⃣ Breast milk has live stem cells in it.

When you isolate these cells and expose them to the right nutrients, they can produce milk. This is the basic premise behind some of the early-stage companies centered around laboratory-grown breast milk. These milk-derived stem cells also have unusually low tumorigenic potential and don’t often form teratomas, which could make them great candidates for regenerative therapies.

2️⃣ Phages can be engineered to specifically target and kill cancer cells.

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, rather than eukaryotic cells like those found in humans. The potential use cases for phages are broad, ranging from human health to agriculture. Use of phages in cancer therapies is still early stage, but there’s a lot to suggest they could become a crucial therapy in years ahead.

3️⃣ Fear triggers epigenetic changes that can persist long-term.

Better understanding of these molecular mechanisms could lead to better treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. It also suggests that certain phobias - spiders, snakes - may be inherited from our ancestors.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6570695/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10684691/
3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02453-4