OKLAHOMA CITY – While smoking rates in the United States have substantially declined over the past six decades, smoking remains high among people with low incomes, leading to health disparities. A smartphone app that delivers real-time, tailored messages may hold the key to helping them quit, according to University of Oklahoma clinical trial results published today in JAMA Network Open.

New research co-led by Mass Eye and Ear demonstrates that a single-dose gene editing therapy using CRISPR-Cas9 can safely and effectively restore hearing and balance in adult mice with DFNA41, a genetic form of hearing loss. These findings suggest strong potential for translating this approach into human treatments for adult-onset genetic deafness.

Scientists have pinpointed brain activity related to inner speech—the silent monologue in people’s heads—and successfully decoded it on command with up to 74% accuracy. Publishing August 14 in the Cell Press journal Cell, their findings could help people who are unable to audibly speak communicate more easily using brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies that begin translating inner thoughts when a participant says a password inside their head.