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Biomedical engineers are now able to take a live, holistic look at the inner workings of a small animal with enough resolution to see active organs, flowing blood, circulating melanoma cells and firing neural networks. The technique uses the best of both light and ultrasound, breaking long-standing resolution and speed barriers in small-animal whole-body imaging, providing full cross-sectional view of a small animal's internal functions in real-time. Read more at Duke Pratt School of Engineering News.

Studies have suggested a link between fitness and memory, but researchers have struggled to find the mechanism that links them. A new study found that the key may lie in the microstructure of the hippocampus, a region in the middle of the brain involved in memory processes. Read more at Illinois Research News.

A significant step has been made toward breaking the so-called 'color barrier' of light microscopy for biological systems, allowing for much more comprehensive, system-wide labeling and imaging of a greater number of biomolecules in living cells and tissues than is currently attainable. The advancement has the potential for many future applications, including helping to guide the development of therapies to treat and cure disease. Read more at Science Newsline.

Malaria affects hundreds of millions of people every year, killing more than half a million. Part of the difficulty of eliminating malaria stems from the fact that a large portion of the at-risk population lives in rural areas where access to doctors can be a challenge. This means that many patients often do not comply with the strict daily schedule malaria prevention medicines require. Researchers funded by NIBIB at MIT have developed a capsule that, when dissolved in the stomach, releases a star-shaped material containing drugs that help to prevent malaria infections and lasts for up to two weeks.