Category: Health

Sweets for my sweets … Fuss Sergey Designing a series of sweetener trials seemed straightforward enough to us as behavioural scientists who specialise in human appetite and obesity. The plan was simple: replace the added sugar in a range of foods with different classes of alternative sweeteners, holding everything else constant. We would start with […]

PMOS is a complex hormonal and metabolic disorder. Toey Andante/ Shutterstock For more than two decades, I have studied a condition that shapes the lives of about 10-13% of women. This condition causes complex, wide-ranging symptoms such as irregular periods, excessive hair growth, weight gain, acne and difficulty getting pregnant. Until a few days ago, […]

Energy gels have become an essential part of many runners' kits. Real Sports Photos/ Shutterstock Sebastian Sawe ripped open a carbohydrate gel sachet and slurped it five minutes before the start of the 2026 London Marathon. Sixty minutes later, he inhaled another one before smashing through the two-hour marathon barrier. Sawe might have been the […]

New Africa/Shutterstock.com Scientists in South Korea have developed experimental contact lenses designed to send electrical signals through the retina and into brain regions linked to mood. In mice, the technology appeared to improve depression-like behaviour. The idea sounds futuristic: a contact lens that could one day help treat depression by stimulating the brain through the […]

Rocketclips, Inc./Shutterstock Pregnancy is often regarded as a time to prepare the nursery, but it is also a useful moment to get the kitchen ready. For many expectant parents, the months before a baby arrives are filled with practical jobs: buying clothes, assembling a cot, choosing a pram, packing a hospital bag. Yet one of […]

Rawpixel.com Whether you call it an Irish goodbye, French leave or filer à l’anglaise (leave in the English style), as the French prefer, the act of quietly slipping out of a party without fanfare is a familiar social impulse. The Brazilians called it sair à francesa (French style), the Germans a Polnischer Abgang (Polish departure), […]

elenavolf/Shutterstock.com In Britain, whether cannabis is treated as medicine or a crime may depend less on medical need than on the ability to pay. In 2018, the UK government changed drug policy, allowing specialist doctors to prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products. The decision was presented as a move towards evidence-based healthcare, recognising cannabis may have therapeutic […]

Your chronotype plays an important role in many bodily processes. we.bond.creations/ Shutterstock While some people can spring out of bed at six in the morning and go straight into their day, others prefer to wake up later as they’re most productive in the afternoon or evening. This difference is due to your chronotype – the […]

KhalifahFA/Shutterstock We’ve all heard the advice: eat your fruit and vegetables, get your vitamins, and stay healthy. For the most part, that guidance holds up. But some nutrients have a more complicated story, and vitamin B12 is a fascinating example. Also known as cobalamin, B12 is essential for life. It helps the body produce red […]

Mystic Stock Photography/Shutterstock The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1. Within days, one passenger had become ill. Within weeks, the voyage had become the focus of an international health response after cases of Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, were identified among passengers and crew. By early May, several people had died. Passengers […]