Articles

Scientists may have found a way to quiet a key driver of brain inflammation — and it could point toward new treatments for two of the most feared diseases of aging.

Most people assume Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are purely about plaques, tangles, or dying neurons. But a growing body of research points to something else fueling the fire: chronic inflammation deep inside the brain. A new study suggests that blocking a specific inflammation-linked receptor in the brain may help slow the kind of damage seen in both diseases — opening a door researchers have been trying to find for years.

The Mediterranean diet gets all the attention — but a Northern European eating pattern is quietly building a serious body of evidence for longer, healthier lives.

You've heard about the Mediterranean diet so many times it practically has its own publicist. But researchers and nutrition scientists are turning their eyes north — to Scandinavia — where a different way of eating is racking up impressive longevity credentials. The Nordic diet focuses on locally grown, seasonal foods from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and the science linking it to better health outcomes is growing fast. Here's what the research says and what a Nordic plate actually looks like.

Machine learning tools are finding cancers, heart problems, and neurological conditions earlier than ever — and the science behind them is moving fast.

You go in for a routine scan or an annual checkup. Everything looks normal. But what if something was there that the human eye simply couldn't catch? Artificial intelligence is changing that equation — and in some cases, it's catching life-threatening conditions years before symptoms appear. Here is what the research actually says, and what it means for your health today.

For decades, butter was the villain. New research is complicating that story in surprising ways.

You were told to swap butter for margarine, choose skim milk over whole, and treat cheese like an occasional guilty pleasure. But a growing body of research is challenging those long-held dietary rules — and what scientists are finding about full-fat dairy and heart health may surprise you.

If you take blood pressure medication, you may have been told to go easy on bananas and other high-potassium foods. New research suggests that advice may need an update.

For years, people on certain blood pressure drugs have been quietly warned away from potassium-rich foods like bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes. The concern made sense on paper — some medications raise potassium levels in the blood, and too much potassium can cause serious heart problems. But a new study suggests that for most patients, those worries may have been overstated. In fact, the research points to a surprising finding: eating a diet naturally high in potassium may actually be safe — and even beneficial — for many people on common blood pressure medications.

Your smartwatch counts your deep sleep stages every night—but how close is it to the truth?

Millions of people wake up, check their wrist, and let a number on a screen decide whether they had a good night's sleep. But sleep scientists have a few things to say about that. The technology is getting better—and it still has real limits worth understanding.

DIY lab kits promise a window into your health—here's what the science says about what they can and can't deliver.

You've probably seen the ads: a tiny finger prick, a prepaid envelope, and a full health report in your inbox within days. At-home health testing has exploded into a multi-billion-dollar industry, and the options keep growing. But before you order a kit, it helps to know what these tests actually measure, how reliable the results are, and when you still need a doctor in the loop.

You grab your receipt without a second thought — but researchers say that thin strip of paper may be delivering more than your total.

Most of us handle dozens of paper receipts every month without a second thought. But researchers and public health agencies have raised questions about a chemical commonly used to coat those receipts — and whether routine handling adds up to a real exposure concern. Here is what the science actually says, and what you can do about it.

Remote work gets all the attention, but new research suggests the person running your team may matter far more for your mental health at work.

Everyone is debating remote versus hybrid versus in-office. But a growing body of research points to something most workplace conversations overlook: your manager's behavior may be a stronger driver of burnout than where you physically do your job. Here's what the science says — and what you can do about it.

Researchers are finding microplastics in places we never expected — and children's teeth are now on that list.

You protect your kids from sugar, screen time, and too much sun. But a growing body of research suggests a threat you can't see may be accumulating in their bodies from the earliest years of life. Scientists have detected microplastics inside children's baby teeth, offering a startling new window into early-life plastic exposure — and raising questions every parent deserves to have answered.

Millions of people reach for herbal sleep supplements assuming they are completely safe to use every night — but the science tells a more complicated story.

If you keep a bottle of valerian, kava, or another herbal sleep aid on your nightstand, you are in good company. These supplements are marketed as gentle, natural alternatives to prescription sleep medications. But new attention from researchers and pharmacologists suggests that some of the most popular herbal sleep aids may come with dependence risks that most users have never heard about. Here is what the evidence actually shows — and what to talk to your doctor about if sleep has become a nightly struggle.

Most of us know fresh air is good for us — but the research on what staying inside is actually doing to your body may surprise you.

You lock the doors, close the blinds, and settle into another day mostly spent indoors. Sound familiar? For many American adults, the average day includes as little as 7 percent of time spent outside. What researchers are finding about what that does to the body — and the brain — is worth a serious look.

Wellness routines are supposed to help you feel better — but for some women, they may be doing the opposite.

You downloaded the sleep tracker. You eliminated gluten. You take seventeen supplements and feel guilty when you miss a meditation session. Sound familiar? For millions of women, the pursuit of wellness has quietly become another source of stress — and researchers and clinicians are starting to take notice.

ADHD doesn't always look like a hyper kid in a classroom — and for millions of women, that misunderstanding has cost them decades.

If you've spent most of your adult life feeling scattered, overwhelmed, or like you have to work twice as hard as everyone else just to keep up, you're not alone — and you're not just "bad at adulting." A growing body of research suggests that ADHD in women is vastly underdiagnosed, often missed for decades because the symptoms look very different from the textbook picture most doctors were trained to recognize.

New research suggests women on GLP-1 medications may be holding onto more muscle than we thought — but the full picture is more nuanced.

If you've heard that weight-loss drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide cause you to lose dangerous amounts of muscle, you're not alone. That concern has been all over social media and even in mainstream health coverage. But emerging research is beginning to complicate that story — especially for women.