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New meta-analysis challenges claims of athletic advantage for transgender women

A meta-analysis of 52 studies reveals insights into body composition and fitness in transgender athletes, challenging assumptions about competitive advantage.

6 Feb 2026

Why “low testosterone” has become a profitable masculinity crisis online

Social media's portrayal of low testosterone transforms masculinity into a marketable issue, linking health interventions to male identity and performance.

6 Feb 2026

Health harms from plastics could double by 2040

Global health burdens associated with plastic systems could double by 2040 without immediate and coordinated action.

6 Feb 2026

Preoperative factors predict persistent opioid use after surgery

For many Americans, a routine surgical procedure serves as their first introduction to opioid pain medication.

5 Feb 2026

Brain connectivity fingerprints differ in major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating condition that affects more than 246 million people worldwide, yet scientists have struggled to identify consistent brain markers that could improve diagnosis and treatment.

5 Feb 2026

Early biomarkers predict infections after breast reconstruction surgery

In the U.S., one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime, and about half of them will have mastectomies.

5 Feb 2026

Smartwatch data may help detect opioid misuse risk

Opioid overdoses continue to take a devastating toll across the United States. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2023, the nation recorded roughly 105,000 drug overdose deaths overall, with nearly 80,000 deaths involving opioids.

5 Feb 2026

Large trials show statins rarely cause reported side effects

Cardiovascular disease results in around 20 million deaths worldwide and causes around a quarter of all deaths in the UK.

5 Feb 2026

Paid sick leave emerges as key workplace support for frontline workers, new study shows

Access to paid sick leave among South Korean in-home service workers during COVID-19 was associated with lower perceived infection risk, reduced job stress, and higher job satisfaction. Workers without paid leave reported greater perceived risk and stress, with indirect negative effects on job satisfaction, highlighting paid leave as an important workplace resource.

5 Feb 2026

Review highlights smarter medicine delivery as key to better adherence

Health system design plays a major role in medication adherence for chronic diseases, with delivery models influencing access, affordability, and continuity of care. Flexible, well-regulated dispensing systems that address structural barriers can improve long-term treatment outcomes across diverse populations.

5 Feb 2026

New workflow boosts nuclear delivery for safer gene therapy

Gene therapy holds the promise of preventing and curing disease by manipulating gene expression within a patient's cells. However, to be effective, the new gene must make it into a cell's nucleus.

5 Feb 2026

Study elucidates key steps in the ubiquitin tagging of mutated huntingtin protein

Researchers have elucidated key steps in the ubiquitin tagging of the mutated huntingtin protein, providing hope for future therapies.

5 Feb 2026

Stem cell implants aim to restore dopamine in Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than one million people in the United States, with approximately 90,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

5 Feb 2026

Ulcerative proctitis not linked to increased rectal cancer risk

People with ulcerative proctitis, a milder and more limited form of ulcerative colitis, are not at higher risk of developing rectal cancer than the general population.

5 Feb 2026

Enhanced natural killer cells show promise for HIV remission

More than 30 million people with HIV must take antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications daily to keep the virus under control, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

5 Feb 2026

Liver-derived protein supports bone health in males

New research suggests the liver plays a previously unrecognized role in bone health, but only in males.

5 Feb 2026

Reprogrammed neutrophils promote tumor growth

Predicting tumor progression is one of the major challenges in oncology. Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have discovered that neutrophils, a type of immune cell, undergo reprogramming when they come into contact with the tumor ecosystem and contribute to its progression.

5 Feb 2026

AI-enabled stethoscope doubles detection of valvular heart disease

New research shows that the use of an AI-enabled digital stethoscope more than doubled the identification of moderate to severe valvular heart disease during routine clinical examinations, compared to a traditional stethoscope.

5 Feb 2026

AI foundation model advances comprehensive brain MRI analysis

Mass General Brigham investigators have developed a robust new artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model that is capable of analyzing brain MRI datasets to perform numerous medical tasks, including identifying brain age, predicting dementia risk, detecting brain tumor mutations and predicting brain cancer survival.

5 Feb 2026

EBV-linked killer T cells implicated in multiple sclerosis

Researchers at UC San Francisco have uncovered a new clue to how Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) could contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic autoimmune disease that affects nearly one million Americans.

5 Feb 2026