Planets & Transits
New Moon in Leo August 12, 2026
The New Moon arrives in Leo August 12 at 8:36 PM UTC, and with it comes a singular...
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- Written by: Bert Gambin, University at Buffalo
Young adults who are in high-quality relationships are in better physical and mental health, a new study shows.
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- Written by: Jane Gardner, University of Melbourne
Regular exercise in middle age is the best lifestyle change a person can make to prevent cognitive decline in their later years, a 20-year study finds.
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- Written by: Sergio Diez Alvarez, University of Newcastle
A few years ago I proudly lost almost 15% of my weight. However last week I stared with disbelief at my scale as I realised all my efforts were in vain and I had regained all of the previously lost weight.
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- Written by: Ralph Nader
For thousands of years humans have defended themselves from harm by others. But many have proceeded to regularly harm themselves. They have actively searched for substances to ingest, inhale, inject and apply which may give them some immediate relief but damage or destroy their lives over time.
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- Written by: Shervin Assari, University of Michigan
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more women are affected by depression than men. This pattern is seen in countries around the world, including the United States.
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- Written by: Peter Bongiorno
In this modern age, we tend to run from the sun due to what I believe to be understandable but overblown concerns about skin cancer. Since the time of the Greeks, heliotherapy (sun therapy) has been a valuable way to heal the body and balance the mind.
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- Written by: David A. Edwards, Vanderbilt University
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid narcotic about 100 times as potent as morphine, continues to be in the news, as deaths from fentanyl overdose continue to rise and even more potent nonpharmaceutical forms become available on the street.
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- Written by: Bernard Stewart, UNSW Australia
The World Health Organisation’s cancer arm made two announcements this week: one welcome and one not so welcome.
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- Written by: Nora Caron
A few years ago, I gave conferences in Montreal regarding the healing properties of natural spring water. I was fascinated by the reports of people drinking natural spring water and stating that many of their illnesses vanished or greatly improved just by drinking such water.
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- Written by: Mike Williams, Rice University
Recent research has revealed a biological pathway connecting emotional stress to diabetes, highlighting how low attention control can lead to increased anxiety and inflammation. This study sheds light on the crucial role of psychological factors in metabolic health, suggesting potential interventions like mindfulness therapy to mitigate risks associated with diabetes.
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- Written by: Carol Maher, University of South Australia
With an estimated 100,000 health and fitness apps available on the two leading smartphone platforms, iOS and Android, it seems there is an app for everything – from tracking your bowel movements, to practising your pimple-popping technique.
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- Written by: James Carney, Lancaster University
It’s easy to explain the appeal of drugs like heroin and cocaine, which directly stimulate the brain’s reward centres. What’s less easy to explain is the appeal of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin that produce altered states of consciousness.
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- Written by: Roger Pickup, Lancaster University
A golden era of antibiotics shifted the leading causes of death away from infection to cancer and cardiovascular disease. At the moment, we can still treat most infections as only a few are resistant to what is currently the last line of antibiotics – the colistins.
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- Written by: Andrew George, Brunel University London
Everyone knows that Britain’s conclusive victory over Napoleon was at Waterloo. The story of that day – the squares of infantry repulsing cavalry charges, the Imperial Guard retreating under murderous musket fire delivered by a red line of soliders, the just-in-time arrival of Field Marshal Blücher’s Prussian army – is one of excitement, horror and heroism.
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- Written by: David Pye, University of Salford
We know so much about the genes that cause disease, so why are we not approaching an age of Star-Trek-like medicine in which a doctor can wave a handheld device over a patient, claim to have sequenced the genes of the offending pathogen, then move rapidly to a cure?
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- Written by: Garrath Williams, Lancaster University
Last week, the National Obesity Forum caused a furore by claiming that eating fat, including saturated fat, will help cut rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Public Health England hit back, calling NOF’s advice “irresponsible”.
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- Written by: Andy Henion, Michigan State University
Marisa Fisher's research suggests people with Williams syndrome can learn to say no to strangers, refuting past studies that indicated sociability may be hard-wired in individuals with Williams syndrome.
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- Written by: Claire Rostron, The Open University
Alcohol: why do we drink it? People have been consuming alcohol for at least 10,000 years. And when drinking water was rather risky, alcohol seemed a much safer bet. Amaldus of Villanova, a 14th-century monk, even wrote that alcohol “prolongs life, clears away ill humors, revives the heart and maintains youth”.
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- Written by: Jim Dryden, Washington University in St. Louis
"As doctors, we throw things like antihistamines, ointments, and lotions at patients who suffer chronic itching, but if there is something profoundly abnormal about the immune system—as it appears there is—then we can't solve the itching until we address those underlying causes," says Brian S. Kim.
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- Written by: James Borrell, Queen Mary University of London
In the past week you’ve probably eaten crops that wouldn’t exist in nature, or that have evolved extra genes to reach freakish sizes. You’ve probably eaten “cloned” food and you may have even eaten plants whose ancestors were once deliberately blasted with radiation. And you could have bought all this without leaving the “organic” section of your local supermarket.
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- Written by: Laurel Mellin, University of California, San Francisco
Despite massive government, medical and individual efforts to win the war on obesity, 71 percent of Americans are overweight. The average adult is 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960. Our growing girth adds some US$200 billion per year to our health care expenditure, amounting to a severe health crisis.
