Consensus statement on chemosensory testing calls for better standardization, infrastructure, and education

Understanding how people visually browse their surroundings and direct their gaze in specific situations is a long-standing goal among psychology researchers. Past studies suggest that humans exhibit oculomotor biases, which are tendencies that guide the way they look at the world around them, for instance, preferentially directing their gaze around the center of what they are visually exposed to at a given time.

A review published in Health Affairs Scholar highlights significant limitations in the existing evidence base for perinatal palliative care (PPC) in the United States, raising concerns about its capacity to adequately support a growing, vulnerable patient population increasingly directed towards it due to abortion restrictions.

19 June 2025, Cairo, Egypt – Substance use across the Eastern Mediterranean Region is growing among vulnerable groups, including migrants and displaced persons. This silent crisis, taking place in the shadow of conflict, displacement, marginalization and economic hardship, is compounded by the loss of social support networks. In 2022, 6.7% of people aged between 15 and 64 in the Region had used drugs, surpassing the global average. Young men are particularly affected, with nearly 5% reporting cannabis use in the past year. The treatment gap is particularly alarming. Only 1 in 13 people with substance use disorders receive care. Substance use contributes to the spread of infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis. It takes a heavy toll on mental health, community safety and national economies. In some countries, the economic impact has reached 2% of gross domestic product. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, on 1 June 2025 the Regional Health Alliance (RHA), which brings together 18 UN agencies, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), to facilitate multilateral engagement and joint efforts to address health priorities, convened a regional technical meeting to strengthen coordination, explore joint interventions and align the response to substance use with the complex realities on the ground. Under the leadership of WHO’s Read more...

In moments of acute pain, physical trauma and psychological distress, every minute spent in a hospital emergency department (ED) waiting room can seem like a lifetime. But what happens when the language barrier prevents triage staff from properly understanding patients' medical conditions?

Exposure to wildfire smoke and heat stress can negatively affect birth outcomes for women, especially in climate-vulnerable neighborhoods, according to a recent study led by USC postdoctoral researcher Roxana Khalili, Ph.D.

Brain networks responsible for sensing, understanding, and responding emotionally to pain develop at different rates in infants, with the conscious understanding of pain not fully developed until after birth, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they've burned in a day. But for those living with obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burned and more, these devices often inaccurately measure activity—until now.

Viruses are entirely dependent on their hosts to reproduce. They ransack living cells for parts and energy and hijack the host's cellular machinery to make new copies of themselves. Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), it turns out, also redecorates, according to a study in Nature Communications.

The current heat wave in the Northeastern United States threatens the comfort and even the safety of millions of people. Not all people, however, face the same level of risk from the heat and humidity. During extreme heat, older and less healthy people need to take more care to remain safe.

Justin Taylor, M.D., a physician-scientist at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has released a preclinical study highlighting a potential new way to treat colorectal cancer. The findings appear in Cancer Research.

Researchers have found a promising new method for gene therapy. They successfully restarted inactive genes by bringing them closer to genetic switches on the DNA called enhancers. The intermediate piece of DNA was cut out using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

An international group of psychiatrists, patient associations, and pharmaceutical companies has unveiled plans to systematically include objective biological tests in the diagnosis of psychiatric conditions. This Precision Psychiatry Roadmap, which may radically change the practice of psychiatry, is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Heading a soccer ball alters the brain, new research spearheaded by the University of Sydney has found, despite having no immediate impact on cognition.

Higher levels of well-being may help reduce the risk of memory loss in middle age, suggests new research, which tracked more than 10,000 over 50-year-olds across a 16-year span.

The anti-aging drug rapamycin has the same life-extending effect as eating less, according to new research from the University of East Anglia and University of Glasgow.

Intermittent fasting diets appear to have similar benefits to traditional calorie-restricted diets for weight loss, suggests an analysis of trial evidence published by The BMJ.

Your T cells work hard to fight disease. Unfortunately, "friendly fire" from T cells can sometimes harm the body's healthy tissues.

A more effective vaccine technology may be on the horizon. In a new study in mice, researchers from the University of Copenhagen demonstrate that a simple addition to mRNA vaccines can significantly enhance their effectiveness. The innovation could become a powerful tool in the next pandemic. The next step is human trials.