Today, science controls drones by activating parts of the brain, aims to share DNA information to further disease research, finds the oldest known human tumor, and tests a drug for PTSD prevention.

There are drones that can be controlled by simple thoughts
A team from the University of Minnesota has been using the power of the human brain to drive quadcopters through an obstacle course. The pilot wears an electroencephalogram (EEG), which detects his or her brain’s electrical activity. When activity in a certain area of the brain is detected, a signal is transmitted to the drone via WiFi. For instance, imagining making a fist with the left or right hand makes the drone turn left or right, respectively.

What's special about this project is that the quadcopter is operating in a 3-dimensional world, while most previous experiments of this sort used the brain to control objects in 2-dimensional environments.

Medical institutions worldwide aim to share genetic data to shed light on disease and illness
The Global Alliance is a proposal backed by more than 60 global medical facilities to create and organize an archive of “anonymized” patient genetic data that would be accessible for research. They believe this would be very informative for treating a range of diseases and infections, as well as predicting patient responses to drug treatments—but there are concerns about the privacy and security of data that would be kept in this system.

Oldest human tumor found in neanderthal bone
A bone excavated in Croatia in the early 1900s shows evidence of the oldest human tumor ever found. In a small section of this rib cage—which is more than 120,000 years old—there is an empty space that should should be filled with a spongy inner network of bone. This indicates the presence of fibrous dysplasia, which are benign tumors that can displace bone tissue.

A drug administered into the brain shortly after a traumatic event prevents post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in mice
Researchers have found that injecting a drug—called SR-8993—into mice shortly after a traumatic event prevents PTSD symptoms in tests. Mice who have not been injected have more trouble learning when they are safe from electric shocks after the trauma than those who are. Part of this research also involved identifying a specific gene that may predict which individuals may be more susceptible to developing PTSD in their lives.

And now for your pleasure, thought-driven drones: