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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-May-2026 03:15 ET (23-May-2026 07:15 GMT/UTC)

Microplastics disrupt gut microbiome and fermentation in farm animals: Study reveals new risks to animal health and food safety

University of Helsinki
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microplastics, tiny plastic particles pervasive in agricultural environments, interact with and disrupt the microbial ecosystem in the rumen – the first stomach chamber of cattle, reveals an international study.

Journal: Journal of Hazardous Materials

Persistent environmental toxins accumulate in tissues already in the fetal stage

University of Oulu, Finland
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) begin to accumulate in the tissues of mammals already during the foetal stage, according to new research from the University of Oulu, Finland. The animal-model study found that environmental toxins had built up in the tissues of sheep raised in clean organic production, and that the same substances were transferred in notable amounts to the developing foetuses’ adipose tissue.

Journal: Environmental Research

If you're over 60 and playing with sex toys, you're not alone

The Menopause Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Although research on sexuality in older adults has been growing in recent years, most of the studies are focused on partnered sexual activity and not on solo sexual behavior, including masturbation or the use of sex toys. A new study specifically investigated sex toy use during partnered sex and masturbation in older adult women. Results of the study are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society.

Journal: Menopause

Scientists create a 'lymphatic system' for robots, paving the way for self-powered wearables and machines

Journal Center of Harbin Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Soft robots offer incredible potential in fields from medicine to exploration, but their fluid-driven actuators are often tethered to bulky, rigid pumps. Researchers from Zhejiang University have developed a new-type, soft fiber pump inspired by the body's lymphatic system. This pump is not only highly flexible and easy to manufacture but can also be powered by a built-in triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), harvesting energy from motion to create untethered, self-sufficient soft robotic systems.

Journal: SmartBot

NUS Medicine establishes new mental health scholarship with S$3 million gift from Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation

National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Business Announcement

The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) has received a significant boost with a S$3 million gift from the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation (EESF). The donation, their first to NUS and NUS Medicine, will establish a new scholarship for NUS Medicine’s Master of Clinical Mental Health and Psychotherapy (MCMHP) programme, supporting up to 24 full-time students over the next three years.

Mount Sinai dermatologist reports Phase 3 success for rocatinlimab in moderate-to-severe eczema

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team of investigators led by Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, Waldman Professor and System Chair of the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has reported results from the first phase 3 clinical trials of rocatinlimab, a novel treatment for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (eczema). The landmark findings from the ROCKET-IGNITE and ROCKET-HORIZON studies were published today in The Lancet.

Journal: The Lancet

Fame itself may be critical factor in shortening singers’ lives

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Fame itself may be a critical factor in shortening singers’ lives beyond the hazards of the job—at least those in the UK/Europe and North America—suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Journal: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

Daily coffee drinking may slow biological ageing of people with major mental illness

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Drinking a maximum of 3-4 cups of coffee a day may slow the ‘biological’ ageing of people with severe mental illness, by lengthening their telomeres—indicators of cellular ageing—and giving them the equivalent of 5 extra biological years, compared with non-coffee drinkers, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Mental Health.

Journal: BMJ Mental Health
Funder: Medical Research Council, Research Council of Norway

A type of immune cell could hold a key to preventing scar tissue buildup in wounds

University of Arizona, Office of Research and Partnerships
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers in the College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Surgery are uncovering new insights into how mechanical strain on cells affects healing.

Journal: Nature Biomedical Engineering