Category: Health

Model of bacteriophages. These are viruses that multiply inside bacteria and cause their death. In some cases they are used in the fight against bacteria instead of antibiotics. shoma81/Shutterstock Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. These microscopic predators are found everywhere from soil and water to food and the human gut. […]

When we think about the causes of climate change, the usual suspects often come to mind: coal-fired power plants, traffic-choked roads, industrial agriculture. Rarely do we picture hospitals. Yet if global healthcare were a country, it would be one of the world’s top five greenhouse gas emitters. With healthcare responsible for about 5% of total […]

Global figures estimate that around one in six women will experience sexual assault during their lifetime. These figures are not only high but also extremely concerning, given that sexual assault is a deeply traumatic experience for someone to go through. The psychological consequences of sexual assault, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, […]

Coronaviruses with their telltale spike proteins. Jezper/Shutterstock.com The world is full of animal viruses, and we’re pretty sure that one of them will cause the next pandemic. To prevent pandemics, we need to predict which of the vast number of animal viruses are most likely to infect humans. A new study, published in Nature, sets […]

A PSA test can help detect prostate cancer. Saiful52/ Shutterstock Over the past decade, millions of men without symptoms of prostate cancer have voluntarily undergone a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test in the UK to find out if they might have prostate cancer. While research has shown that PSA screening in men aged 50-69 years can […]

Shutterstock For decades, one of the most prominent public health messages has been that smoking kills. But another everyday habit, far less dramatic and far more socially acceptable, may also be damaging our health: prolonged sitting. Many people now spend up to ten hours a day seated at desks, in meetings or in front of […]

PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com The chief executive of the UK Biobank, one of the world’s largest biomedical databases, recently wrote to over 500,000 participants telling them that some of their data had been made available for sale online through a Chinese website. This wasn’t a data breach or hack, but rather researchers who had legitimately accessed the data […]

Fibroblast, collagen and elastin fibres. Olga Zinkevych/Shutterstock Collagen has become a staple of skincare advertising and social media wellness trends. But it is not just a buzzword. It is the most abundant protein in the body and helps support structures throughout the body, including skin and bone. For women, collagen loss can become especially noticeable […]

Face Portraits/Shutterstock.com Beer could come with a “surprising health benefit”, according to a new report from the BBC. This must be pleasing news for beer drinkers everywhere. But what did the new study the BBC report was based on actually say? And does it stand up to scrutiny? The study, published in the Journal of […]

LittlePigPower/Shutterstock.com Healthy life expectancy in the UK – the years we can expect to live in good health – has fallen by more than two years over the past decade, according to a new Health Foundation analysis published. The decline has been larger for women than for men – a finding the report says raises […]