Diseases and Conditions News

August 12, 2025

Top Headlines

The Hidden Mental Health Danger in Today’s High-THC Cannabis

Aug. 12, 2025 — THC levels in cannabis have soared in recent years, raising the risk of psychosis—especially in young, frequent users. Studies reveal a strong connection between cannabis-induced psychosis and schizophrenia, making early cessation and treatment ...

Scientists Detect Virus Traces in Blood That May Unlock Long COVID’s Mystery

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have found protein fragments from the COVID-19 virus hidden inside tiny cellular packages in the blood of long COVID patients, offering the first potential measurable biomarker for the ...

Cutting Sugar Won’t Curb Your Sweet Tooth, Scientists Say

Aug. 12, 2025 — A six-month randomized trial challenges the idea that eating more sweet foods increases a person’s preference for sweetness. Participants on diets with high, low, or mixed sweetness levels showed no changes in their sweet taste preferences, energy ...

Scientists Discover Brain Layers That Get Stronger with Age

Aug. 12, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that parts of the human brain age more slowly than previously thought—particularly in the region that processes touch. By using ultra-high-resolution brain scans, they found that while some layers of the cerebral cortex ...

Scientists Reversed Memory Loss by Powering the Brain’s Tiny Engines

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a direct cause-and-effect link between faulty mitochondria and the memory loss seen in neurodegenerative diseases. By creating a novel tool to boost mitochondrial activity in mouse models, researchers restored memory ...

The Parasite That Turns Off Your Body’s Pain Alarm and Sneaks In

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a parasite that can sneak into your skin without you feeling a thing. The worm, Schistosoma mansoni, has evolved a way to switch off the body’s pain and itch signals, letting it invade undetected. By blocking certain ...

What Scientists Discovered About French Fries and Diabetes

Aug. 11, 2025 — French fries may be more than just a guilty pleasure—they could raise your risk of type 2 diabetes by 20% if eaten three times a week, while the same amount of boiled, baked, or mashed potatoes doesn’t appear to have the same ...

Scientists Uncover Hidden Brain Shortcut to Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Aug. 10, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a way to promote weight loss and improve blood sugar control without the unpleasant side effects of current GLP-1 drugs. By shifting focus from neurons to brain support cells that produce appetite-suppressing molecules, ...

How Much Damage Are Ultraprocessed Foods Really Doing to Your Health?

Aug. 10, 2025 — Many foods we consume today are ultraprocessed, packed with unhealthy ingredients, and linked to major health risks. As consumption of these foods rises, so do chronic health issues, especially among lower-income groups. Experts are calling for ...

Losing Weight but Gaining Weakness? What Ozempic Might Be Doing to Your Muscles

Aug. 10, 2025 — Ozempic’s weight loss benefits might come at the cost of muscle strength, even if muscle size remains relatively stable. This raises significant concerns for older adults, who are already at risk ...

Can a Diet Really Ease Lipoedema? Sunniva’s Journey to Pain Relief and Weight Loss

Aug. 10, 2025 — Sunniva Kwapeng struggled with lipoedema, a painful condition causing disproportionate fat accumulation, until finally being diagnosed in her 40s. An NTNU study found that a low-carb diet helped ...

Scientists Just Found a Tiny Molecule That Could Change How We Lose Weight

Aug. 10, 2025 — Researchers at the Salk Institute have used CRISPR to uncover hidden microproteins that control fat cell growth and lipid storage, identifying one confirmed target, Adipocyte-smORF-1183. This breakthrough could lead to more effective obesity ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:30pm EDT

What Really Happens to Your Body When You Stop Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic

Aug. 8, 2025 — Stopping prescription weight loss drugs often leads to significant weight regain, according to a large-scale analysis of 11 global studies. ...

Scientists Find Brain Cell Switch That Could Reverse Obesity’s Effects

Aug. 8, 2025 — High-fat diets and obesity reshape astrocytes—star-shaped brain cells in the striatum that help regulate pleasure from eating. French researchers discovered that tweaking these cells in mice not ...

Scientists Discover Amino Acid Switch That Turns Fat Into a Calorie-Burning Furnace

Aug. 8, 2025 — Cutting calories doesn’t just slim you down—it also reduces cysteine, an amino acid that flips fat cells from storage mode to fat-burning mode. ...

Scientists Crack the Mystery of Brain Cell Clumps, and Make Them Vanish

Aug. 8, 2025 — Scientists have discovered how harmful clumps inside brain cells—linked to diseases like ALS and Huntington’s—form, and found a way to break them apart. These sticky tangles of RNA develop ...

The Hidden Ways Light at Night Damages Your Brain, Mood, and Metabolism

Aug. 8, 2025 — Neuroscientist Dr. Randy J. Nelson explores how artificial light at night disrupts our bodies, from immune health to mood. His work bridges lab research, clinical trials, and everyday solutions while ...

New “evolution Engine” Creates Super-Proteins 100,000x Faster

Aug. 8, 2025 — Researchers at Scripps have created T7-ORACLE, a powerful new tool that speeds up evolution, allowing scientists to design and improve proteins thousands of times faster than nature. Using engineered ...

Breakthrough “smart” Gel Restores Blood Flow and Heals Diabetic Wounds in Days

Aug. 8, 2025 — A new gel-based treatment could change the way diabetic wounds heal. By combining tiny healing messengers called vesicles with a special hydrogel, ...

Nature’s Anti-Aging Hack? Jewel Wasp Larvae Slow Their Biological Clock

Aug. 7, 2025 — Scientists discovered that jewel wasp larvae that undergo a developmental "pause" live longer and age more slowly at the molecular level by nearly 30%. This slowdown is tied to conserved biological ...

Scientists Uncover Hidden Gut ‘sense’ That Talks to Your Brain

Aug. 6, 2025 — Your gut may be talking to your brain in ways we never imagined. Scientists have discovered a “neurobiotic sense” — a rapid-response system where colon cells detect microbial proteins and ...

This Common Fruit Has Over 1,600 Compounds That Boost Brain, Heart, and Gut Health

Aug. 5, 2025 — Fresh grapes contain a potent mix of over 1,600 compounds that benefit heart, brain, skin, and gut health. New evidence suggests they deserve ...

Brain Fog, Falls, and Fatigue? This App Helps Seniors Cut Risky Meds

Aug. 5, 2025 — McGill's MedSafer tool helps doctors identify and eliminate risky or unneeded medications in seniors, significantly improving patient outcomes. It aims to prevent harmful "prescribing ...

This Diet Helped People Lose Twice as Much Weight, Without Eating Less

Aug. 5, 2025 — People eating minimally processed foods lost twice as much weight as those on ultra-processed diets, even though both diets were nutritionally balanced and participants could eat freely. This ...

Hidden Gene in Leukemia Virus Could Revolutionize HIV Treatment

Aug. 2, 2025 — Scientists in Japan have discovered a genetic "silencer" within the HTLV-1 virus that helps it stay hidden in the body, evading the immune system for decades. This silencer element ...

Fatigue, Anxiety, Pain? They Might Be MS in Disguise

Aug. 2, 2025 — New research suggests that multiple sclerosis (MS) may quietly begin affecting the body up to 15 years before the first obvious neurological symptoms appear. Researchers found a steady increase in ...

This Sugar Molecule Could Stop Type 1 Diabetes, by Fooling the Immune System

Aug. 2, 2025 — In a fascinating twist, Mayo Clinic researchers discovered that a sugar molecule cancer cells use to hide from the immune system might also protect insulin-producing beta cells in type 1 diabetes. By ...

Found in the Trash: A Super Opioid 1000x Stronger Than Morphine

Aug. 1, 2025 — A powerful new synthetic opioid, up to 1000 times stronger than morphine, has emerged in Adelaide’s street drug supply, and researchers are sounding the alarm. Nitazenes, often hidden in heroin or ...

Did Drunk Apes Help Us Evolve? New Clues Reveal Why We Digest Alcohol So Well

Aug. 1, 2025 — Ape behavior just got a name upgrade — “scrumping” — and it might help explain why humans can handle alcohol so well. Researchers discovered that African apes regularly eat overripe, ...

Unwanted Pregnancies Surge With Alcohol, but Not With Cannabis, Study Finds

Aug. 1, 2025 — Women who drank heavily, even though they strongly wished to avoid pregnancy, were 50% more likely to become pregnant than those who drank little or not at all, according to new research. ...

The Pandemic’s Secret Aftershock: Inside the Gut-Brain Breakdown

July 30, 2025 — A new global study reveals a striking post-pandemic surge in gut-brain disorders like IBS and functional dyspepsia. Researchers compared data from 2017 and 2023 and discovered sharp increases IBS up ...

Walk Faster, Live Longer: How Just 15 Minutes a Day Can Boost Lifespan

July 29, 2025 — Fast walking, even just 15 minutes a day, can dramatically reduce the risk of death, especially from heart disease, according to a large study involving nearly 80,000 low-income and predominantly ...

This Gut Hormone Could Explain 40% of IBS-D Cases—and Lead to a Cure

July 29, 2025 — A mysterious gut hormone may be behind many cases of chronic diarrhea, especially in people with undiagnosed bile acid malabsorption, a condition often mistaken for irritable bowel syndrome. ...

Johns Hopkins Scientists Grow a Mini Human Brain That Lights Up and Connects Like the Real Thing

Aug. 4, 2025 — Scientists at Johns Hopkins have grown a first-of-its-kind organoid mimicking an entire human brain, complete with rudimentary blood vessels and neural activity. This new "multi-region brain ...

Alzheimer’s Risk May Start at the Brain’s Border, Not Inside It

Aug. 4, 2025 — Your brain has its own elite defense team — and new research shows these "guardian" cells might be the real battleground for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and stroke. ...

Researchers Discover Key Social Factors That Triple Long COVID Risk

Aug. 4, 2025 — New research led by Mass General Brigham reveals that people facing social challenges—like food insecurity, financial strain, and limited healthcare access—are two to three times more likely to ...

Lupus Often Fades With Age. Scientists Finally Know Why

Aug. 4, 2025 — Lupus, a relentless autoimmune disease, appears to mellow with age. While it aggressively targets organs with runaway interferon signaling in younger adults, researchers at UCSF have found that the ...

Perfectly Timed Cancer Combo Wipes out Tumors by Supercharging the Immune System

Aug. 4, 2025 — Head and neck cancer, notoriously hard to treat, might have a new weakness—timing. Researchers discovered that syncing radiation and immunotherapy in just the right way can make tumors disappear in ...

Breakthrough Lung Cancer Treatment Supercharges Immune Cells With Mitochondria

Aug. 3, 2025 — Scientists have found a way to supercharge lung cancer treatment by transplanting healthy mitochondria into tumors, which both boosts immune response and makes chemotherapy far more effective. By ...

This Vaccine Uses Dental Floss Instead of Needles

Aug. 3, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that flossing between your teeth could one day help vaccinate you. By targeting a uniquely permeable gum tissue called the junctional epithelium, this new method stimulates ...

This New Drug Could Help PTSD Patients Finally Let Go of Trauma

Aug. 3, 2025 — Researchers discovered that PTSD may be driven by excess GABA from astrocytes, not neurons. This chemical imbalance disrupts the brain’s ability to forget fear. A new drug, KDS2010, reverses this ...

Pain Relief Without Pills? VR Nature Scenes Trigger the Brain’s Healing Switch

July 30, 2025 — Stepping into a virtual forest or waterfall scene through VR could be the future of pain management. A new study shows that immersive virtual nature dramatically reduces pain sensitivity almost as ...