Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. The principal level of focus of physiology is at the level of organs and systems. Most aspects of human physiology are closely homologous to corresponding aspects of animal physiology, and animal experimentation has provided much of the foundation of physiological knowledge. Anatomy and physiology are closely related fields of study: anatomy, the study of form, and physiology, the study of function, are intrinsically tied and are studied in tandem as part of a medical curriculum.
When danger lurks, instinct keeps us safe. It compels us to run from a burning building or wrestle a knife-wielding attacker to the ground. It also adjusts our body physiology to support these behaviors.
Short QT syndrome is a genetic disease that leads to sudden cardiac death at a young age. Mutations in the SLC4A3 gene, which regulates bicarbonate-chloride exchange, were recently described as a potential cause. An international research team, including a group from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, investigated this possibility.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive, FDA-approved therapy that uses brief magnetic pulses to treat depression, particularly in patients who do not respond to medication.
Can a compound derived from a common kitchen ingredient help support muscle health during aging? A new study suggests it can.
Involving a collaboration with 118 investigators contributing from 89 institutions, scientists from Queen Mary University of London's Precision Healthcare University Research Institute and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité have led the world's largest study on the genetic regulation of blood proteins.
A new study presented today at the European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 2026 suggests that both very low and very high resting heart rates are linked with an increased risk of stroke.
Mary Elizabeth Baugh, a research scientist with Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to study how metabolic health influences the brain systems that shape what and how we eat.
Creatine, a compound often associated with gym-goers and athletes, has long been touted as a performance-enhancing supplement. But beyond the hype, what does science actually reveal about its effects on the body and mind?
New research has shown that GLP‑1 weight-loss drugs deliver protection against heart attacks, strokes and premature death over a sustained period of time.
In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, much has been said about how the lockdowns created conditions for dual-parent families to spend more time at home with their children.
Years before he conducted the research that would earn him a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, was a postdoctoral scientist at Gladstone Institutes, studying genes.
An intestinal pathogen reshapes the gut environment to fuel its own colonization and cause diseases, a multi-institutional team including researchers at Vanderbilt Health has discovered.
Symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, altered sleep, and social withdrawal are often treated as inconvenient side effects of infection.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonism - GLP-1, common in obesity medicines - is not essential to weight management, according to preclinical research led by Richard DiMarchi and Matthias Tschöp, with funding from their startup company Bluewater Biosciences.
Babies exposed to high amounts of air pollution in the womb show slower signs of development at 18 months than those exposed to lower levels.
New research has shown that single blood vessel cells that appear in the earliest stages of lab-grown skin organoids have the ability to form complex microvascular networks that grow and mature over time.
Stresses experienced by black women, such as socioeconomic inequalities, may alter key processes in the body that predispose them to worse pregnancy outcomes than white women, a study by the University of Cambridge has found.
Whenever there is a wound or infection, the body produces an inflammatory response. This is the body's first line of defense, and macrophages — cells of the innate immune system — play a key role: first, they help eliminate pathogens and other infectious agents, and then they trigger the mechanisms that repair the damage caused during the inflammatory process.
The brain is more mechanically connected to the body than previously appreciated, scientists reported today (April 27) in Nature Neuroscience. Through a study using mice and simulations, the team found a potential biological mechanism underlying why exercise is thought to benefit brain health: abdominal contractions compress blood vessels connected to the spinal cord and the brain, enabling the organ to gently move within the skull.
In neurological intensive care, it is quickly learned that the brain cannot wait. As the most sensitive organ in the human body, it can sustain irreversible damage after just a few minutes of severe hypoxia.
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