Category: Health

Staring at the ceiling while the clock blinks 3am doesn’t only sap energy for the next day. A large, long-running US study of older adults has now linked chronic insomnia to changes inside the brain that set the stage for dementia. The researchers, from the Mayo Clinic in the US, followed 2,750 people aged 50 […]

Imagine a world where dangerous conditions in unborn babies can be treated with diamonds smaller than a virus, where gold can find and destroy cancer cells with laser-like precision, and where platinum can change the genetic code of tumours. This isn’t science fiction – it’s happening in modern medicine. For example, scientists are developing a […]

18 September 2025 — Marking World Patient Safety Day, global health leaders turned attention to the unique vulnerabilities of children in medical settings. With an estimated 1 in 10 patients harmed during care and over 3 million deaths annually linked to unsafe practices, the call for reform is urgent. This year’s theme—patient safety for children—underscores […]

Ricky Hatton’s death has reignited an all-too-familiar conversation about mental health in sport. Hatton had spoken openly about his long battle with depression, as well as the drug and alcohol addiction that began after his 2007 defeat to Floyd Mayweather. Research shows that how a boxer thinks – their beliefs about success, identity and failure […]

A UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) investment has published new evidence and a synthesis of 27 action areas that will help make the nation’s food healthier, fairer and greener. The actions, grouped under five themes, appear alongside 12 peer-reviewed papers in a ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B’ special issue published on 18 September […]

Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, yet most treatments offer limited relief. One of the most divisive is acupuncture – recommended in US guidelines for lower back pain but not in the UK. A new study has now examined whether it truly helps. The study found that acupuncture does provide some […]

Seventy-seven talented early-career researchers have been awarded a total of £120 million to lead vital research, collaborate with innovators and develop their careers as the research and innovation leaders of the future. UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) flagship Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) fund allows universities and businesses to develop talented early career researchers and innovators […]

Being diagnosed with a serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder often brings an overlooked challenge: rapid and sustained weight gain. This side-effect can raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease and early death – widening an already stark life expectancy gap. A new study my colleagues and I conducted, published in The Lancet […]

We’re making these changes to make it easier for researchers to apply for Medical Research Council (MRC) applicant-led responsive funding through our research boards. This ensures we continue to take the best approach to fund research that makes a difference. Our research boards are: Infections and Immunity Molecular and Cellular Medicine Neurosciences and Mental Health […]

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking at the start of a meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, taking place in Geneva through Friday. It comes four months after countries adopted the world’s first pandemic treaty, which he called “a generational accomplishment”. Tedros said the next step “is to bring this historic […]