Day January 13, 2026

Credit: iScience (2025). DOI: 10.1016 Scientists at the Princeton University Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have identified novel mechanisms by which a metabolic derivative of vitamin A—all-trans retinoic acid—compromises both the body’s normal anti-cancer immune response and,…

Immunosuppression suppresses the adaptive immune response following xenotransplantation. Credit: Nature Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04053-3 Novel research led by Brazilian scientists describes the immune system’s reactions in detail in the first living patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant.…

Credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya from Pexels Cambridge researchers have discovered that an existing therapy which boosts protective immune cells in people who recently had heart attacks reduces blood vessel inflammation and may reduce the likelihood of future heart attacks. Regulatory T…

Credit: Kindel Media from Pexels Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that targeting a specific immune process could help improve recovery after nerve injury and reduce chronic pain. The study, published in Proceedings of…

Health and medicine is more than just biological—societal forces can get under your skin and cause illness. Medical sociologists like me study these forces by treating society itself as our laboratory. Health and illness are our experiments in uncovering meaning,…

Illinois is now at “very high” levels for flu activity—a designation that coincides with the federal government’s decision to no longer recommend many vaccines for children, including the flu vaccine. Flu activity has been increasing in Illinois and across the…

Increased esophageal hypervigilance and anxiety were associated with worse post-treatment symptoms and poor quality of life in patients with achalasia, a rare esophageal motility disorder, according to a recent Northwestern Medicine study. The findings, published in Gastroenterology, demonstrate how psychological…

There is a long-standing debate in the field of music cognition about the impact of musical training and whether formal training is needed to pick up higher-order tonal structures—the overarching harmonic framework of a piece of music. New research from…

New advertising restrictions on unhealthy food and drink have come into force in the UK, targeting products deemed to be high in fat, salt or sugar. From now on, TV, radio or online adverts that feature these foods will be…

The US Congress allowed enhanced Obamacare subsidies to expire at the end of 2025. US lawmakers voted Thursday to revive health insurance subsidies that expired at the end of last year, offering hope to millions of Americans facing steep premium…

Credit: University of Maryland This year’s flu season is turning out to be brutal. As a new variant known as subclade K spreads rapidly, a study out today offers clues as to how to avoid the annual sickness. Researchers from…

Credit: Heat and Health Research Centre, University of Sydney If you like to exercise outdoors, summer gives you more chance to catch the daylight. It’s often easier to get out of bed and still light when you finish work. But…

A drug mimicking the hormone progesterone has anti-cancer activity when used together with conventional anti-estrogen treatment for women with breast cancer, a new Cambridge-led trial has found. A low dose of megestrol acetate (a synthetic version of progesterone) has already…

Credit: Thirdman from Pexels Women are more than twice as likely as men to develop stress-related conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the biological mechanisms underlying that risk have remained poorly understood. New research from Emory University School…

by I. Edwards Women may soon have an easier, lower-cost way to get screened for cervical cancer. Federal health officials say self-collected vaginal samples can now be used to screen for cervical cancer, and most private insurance plans will be…

The holiday season brought a massive spike in influenza cases across the U.S. New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that the virus is spreading rapidly, with some regions reporting record numbers of infections…

The US government paused all foreign assistance in January 2025. This abrupt decision affected the delivery of life-saving HIV medicines and the provision of HIV prevention services to millions of people. A UNAIDS report estimates there could be an additional…

Violent crime has fallen to historic lows in Chicago, although gun violence continues to plague neighborhoods with concentrated poverty. A 2023 study of five major cities showed that more than 55% of shootings occurred in just 9% of total census…

The sTHOMAS segmentation pipeline. Credit: Human Brain Mapping (2025). DOI: 10.1002 A recent study by the Laboratory for Neuro-Analysis and Imaging (LANAI) at UMass Chan Medical School highlights how subcortical brain structures degenerate in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia patients.…

by I. Edwards The U.S. recorded more than 2,000 measles cases in 2025, the nation’s highest yearly total in decades, health officials report. As of Dec. 30, 2,065 measles cases had been confirmed nationwide, according to the latest data from…

A higher intake of food preservatives, widely used in industrially processed foods and beverages to extend shelf-life, is associated with a modestly increased risk of cancer, finds a study from France published in The BMJ. While further research is needed…

All-cause hantavirus risk maps for (a) the contiguous U.S., (b) the western U.S., and (c) the eastern U.S. Risk is output on a scale from 0 to 1, where 0 is labeled “low risk,” 0.5 is “moderate risk,” and 1.0…

Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Host & Microbe (2025). DOI: 10.1016 Cholera, a severe bacterial infection that causes diarrhea and kills if untreated, can be defeated with a diet high in protein, according to a new study from UC Riverside. Specifically,…

High BATF2 expression potentiated anti-tumor immunity and was associated with better clinical outcomes. a, The relative percentage of each cluster for TILs between HPV and HPV+ HNSCC (n = 26) is shown. The significantly changed clusters are labeled in red.…

Cost–effectiveness plane of PSA screening strategies. Credit: The Lancet Regional Health—Western Pacific (2025). DOI: 10.1016 A research team from the Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong…

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso, led by Rosa Maldonado, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences, found unusually high levels of parasitic infection in the insects that transmit Chagas disease in the Borderland. The bugs were collected near…

About one in five patients with cancer who undergo genetic testing are incidentally found to have mutations in their blood called clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). A study by Vanderbilt Health researchers reveals that it puts them at increased…

The link between heart disease and mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is becoming so clear that some cardiology practices are offering psychological support as part of the treatment. Many people report that talking…

Credit: Gustavo Fring from Pexels Patients with chronic illnesses face a significantly higher risk of complications from cosmetic botulinum toxin injections, commonly known as Botox, according to a major UK study. Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) surveyed 919 adults…

Monkeys were trained to perform two types of tasks: one with reward only, and another where the reward comes with a punishment. The VS–VP pathway was specifically suppressed using chemogenetics. In the reward-only task, motivation to initiate action was unchanged.…

Credit: Karola G from Pexels For many of us, pets are more than just animals. They are family. So, when a beloved pet dies, the grief can feel overwhelming. For some, like me, it does more than break your heart.…

“Quitters day” falls on January 9 this year and marks the point at which people are most likely to give up their New Year’s resolutions. As usual, weight loss is one of the most common goals. But there are compelling…

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use is associated with a lower risk for acute asthma exacerbations in adolescents with overweight or obesity, according to a research letter published online Dec. 29 in JAMA Network Open. Yung-Chieh Huang, M.D., from…

A good night’s sleep might be an additional benefit some gain from taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound, a new study says. Obese patients with type 2 diabetes are less likely to need a CPAP machine to treat sleep…

Frequency of different sublineages in each treatment round stratified by study arm. Credit: The Lancet Microbe (2026). DOI: 10.1016 Mapping the genomes of the bacteria responsible for yaws, a debilitating childhood disease, has uncovered new insights into how these bacteria…

Credit: Eren Li from Pexels Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center and University of Basel have discovered new genetic causes of inherited blindness. Their study, published in Nature Genetics, shows that changes in specific pieces of DNA, which play a…

An analysis of genetic data from over 900,000 people shows that certain stretches of DNA, made up of short sequences repeated over and over, become longer and more unstable as we age. The study found that common genetic variants can…

A new study published suggests that the connection between coronary artery calcification—a measure of calcium buildup in the arteries—and bone mineral density may be driven in part by shared genetic factors, rather than one directly causing the other. By highlighting…

A preclinical study uncovered a new gene therapy that targets pain centers in the brain while eliminating the risk of addiction from narcotics treatments, a breakthrough which could provide hope for the more than 50 million Americans living with chronic…

If you are looking to lower your stress levels this year, hitting the gym—or going for a brisk walk—might be your best strategy, especially if you are a woman. A new report from the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index…