Category: Health

JHDT Productions/Shutterstock Smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated worldwide. Researchers have now recovered fragments of ancient DNA belonging to variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox, from the naturally mummified remains of two Indigenous people buried in northern Chile. For centuries, smallpox caused devastating epidemics. Its severe form, variola major, […]

We carry a map of our bodies around in our brains. It’s not a literal picture, but an organised pattern of brain activity. So, touch different fingers and different parts of the brain respond. Remarkably, this arrangement is highly consistent from person to person. Known as the somatotopic map, where somato means “body” and topo […]

NMK-Studio/Shutterstock.com Fillers are everywhere now – smoothing lines, plumping cheeks, adding volume around the eyes, nose and lips in clinics up and down the country. But some men are now having fillers injected into their penises to increase their size. These fillers often contain hyaluronic acid, a substance naturally found in the body that draws […]

We carry a map of our bodies around in our brains. It’s not a literal picture, but an organised pattern of brain activity. So, touch different fingers and different parts of the brain respond. Remarkably, this arrangement is highly consistent from person to person. Known as the somatopic map, where somato means “body” and topo […]

Andrii Zastrozhnov/ Shutterstock A UK government watchdog has said UK homes aren’t prepared for the possibility of food supply disruptions that could come from disasters like cyberattacks, power cuts, disease outbreaks or extreme weather. The current government recommends that the public stock up on non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking. But this vague guidance doesn’t […]

Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock A liver condition that many people have never heard of may affect around one in six women of childbearing age worldwide. A 2025 global analysis estimated that 15.8% of women aged 15 to 49 were living with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in 2021. Imagine Lisa, 31, arriving for her first pregnancy […]

A cheek swab can reveal inherited genetic variants that may influence how someone responds to certain medicines. Prostock-studio/Shutterstock Two people can take the same dose of the same medicine and have very different results. One may improve, while the other gets little benefit or develops serious side effects. Part of the explanation often lies in […]

Denmark and the UK are often compared when it comes to health. Danes live longer, survive more cancers and report higher levels of wellbeing. But the reasons why stretch well beyond hospitals and healthcare systems. One place to look is the everyday: how people structure their time, move through their day and balance work with […]

_H pylori_ is already known to cause gastric cancer. Liya Graphics/ Shutterstock A bacterium that can live quietly in the stomach for decades may have an unexpected connection with bowel cancer. A new study estimates that exposure to Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) could be associated with more than one in five cases of bowel cancer […]

Exercise doesn't always have to be intense to improve health. Carlo Prearo/ Shutterstock Avid runners are often chasing speed. Whether that’s improving their 5K or shaving seconds off their marathon time to nail a personal best. The idea that exercise should involve pushing further, harder or faster has long been embedded in fitness culture. But […]