For thousands of years, silk has been treasured for its qualities as a beautiful material for elegant garments. But engineers are harnessing the less obvious qualities of silk to develop versatile replacement parts for human eyes and knees.

Are nanoparticles the future of medicine, asks Duxin Sun, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, University of Michigan?

Dr Ronan Cahill, University College Dublin, discusses a promising initiative for precision surgery, where his team use an application that employs computer-vision, point-tracking algorithms to monitor changes in indocyanine green fluorescence intensity in near-infrared videos, automating what was previously a slow, labour-intensive process, while delivering more precise and clinically interesting results.

Inspired by an ancient technology, engineers design a sensor that can measure pressure inside the digestive tract.

Since Theodore Maiman succeeded in operating the first laser in 1960, their unique properties have made them indispensable tools in medicine, research, communications and a host of other fields including entertainment, writes Dr Josette Galligan.

The majority of rare diseases have no approved treatments (less than 6% have), but scientific strides have brought promising new therapeutic models.