Physiology News and Research

RSS

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.

Scientists identify a molecular switch that controls water flow in the gut

Although constipation and diarrhea may seem like opposite problems, they both hinge on the same underlying issue: how much fluid moves into the gut. These common issues affect millions of people in the U.S. each year, yet scientists have not fully understood what regulates intestinal fluid balance.

9 Jan 2026

Targeting IDO1 for cancer: Novel degraders show promise in preclinical studies

Cancer cells employ a variety of strategies to evade the immune system, and modern immunotherapies aim precisely at these escape mechanisms.

9 Jan 2026

APOE gene: A major driver in Alzheimer's disease

Potentially more than 90% of Alzheimer's disease cases would not occur without the contribution of a single gene (APOE), according to a new analysis led by UCL researchers.

9 Jan 2026

UCLA awarded major state funding to advance comprehensive cannabis research

UCLA has received four grants totaling $7.3 million from the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to support research on a broad range of topics, from the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids to the cardiovascular risks of cannabis use and strategies for addressing California's unregulated cannabis market.

8 Jan 2026

Natural daylight during office hours improves glucose stability in type 2 diabetes

Natural daylight exposure during office hours improves glucose control and boosts fat oxidation in individuals with type 2 diabetes, enhancing metabolic health.

8 Jan 2026

AI trained on sleep data predicts future disease and mortality years in advance

The SleepFM model reveals how sleep analysis can predict disease risk, offering insights into sleep's role as a vital health indicator for early intervention.

8 Jan 2026

Hospital study shows adrenaline's rapid impact on cardiac arrest

When a patient's heart stops in a hospital, healthcare professionals need to act quickly.

7 Jan 2026

Newly discovered molecules accelerate the removal of immune-modulating enzyme

Cells have a remarkable housekeeping system: proteins that are no longer needed, defective, or potentially harmful are labeled with a molecular "tag" and dismantled in the cellular recycling machinery.

7 Jan 2026

Microglia help protect the spinal cord from age-related damage

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that the nervous system's own immune cells help protect the spinal cord from age-related damage.

7 Jan 2026

The gut is not just digestive and new evidence shows it actively controls brain function

This comprehensive review synthesizes a decade of human and animal research to explain how the gut and brain communicate through hormonal, neural, immune, and microbial pathways. It highlights how disruptions in these pathways contribute to gastrointestinal, metabolic, and neurological disorders, and how modern therapies are beginning to exploit gut–brain signaling for clinical benefit.

6 Jan 2026

AI model can predict a person's disease risk using sleep data

A poor night's sleep portends a bleary-eyed next day, but it could also hint at diseases that will strike years down the road.

6 Jan 2026

Study sheds light on rare emotional and physical responses during orgasm

When some women orgasm, they experience unusual physical and emotional responses such as laughing, crying, headaches, tingling, foot pain, nosebleeds and more.

5 Jan 2026

Gut microbes shown to directly shape brain function and evolution

A groundbreaking new study reveals that changes to the gut microbiome can change the way the brain works.

5 Jan 2026

Greenland shark eyesight offers clues to longevity, vision, and healthy aging

Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk sits in her office, eyes fixed on the computer monitor in front of her.

5 Jan 2026

Muscle loss may persist after weight recovery in anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric condition characterized by a fear of weight gain and reduced calorie consumption that can result in dangerous weight loss.

5 Jan 2026

Small shifts in blood sodium may influence human brain excitability

This exploratory study in healthy young adults found that plasma sodium levels within the normal clinical range are significantly associated with resting motor threshold, an indirect measure of corticospinal excitability. Lower sodium concentrations were linked to lower thresholds, suggesting subtle physiological variation in electrolytes may relate to interindividual differences in brain excitability.

1 Jan 2026

Biomimetic brain modeling mirrors animal learning and neural dynamics

A new computational model of the brain based closely on its biology and physiology not only learned a simple visual category learning task exactly as well as lab animals, but even enabled the discovery of counterintuitive activity by a group of neurons that researchers working with animals to perform the same task had not noticed in their data before, said a team of scientists at Dartmouth College, MIT, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

30 Dec 2025

Vagus nerve may hold the key to a younger and healthier heart

The secret to a healthier and "younger" heart lies in the vagus nerve. A recent study coordinated by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and published in Science Translational Medicine has shown that preserving bilateral cardiac vagal innervation is an anti-aging factor.

26 Dec 2025

A senescence-based therapeutic approach for temporal lobe epilepsy

Temporal lobe epilepsy, which results in recurring seizures and cognitive dysfunction, is associated with premature aging of brain cells.

22 Dec 2025

New grant supports research into drug-induced brain toxicity

Important FDA-approved drugs to treat HIV and cancer can save lives, but they come with their own risks. Some drugs used clinically are known to cause neurological side effects in up to half of patients, ranging from confusion and memory problems to permanent nerve damage.

19 Dec 2025