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Could scorpion venom inspire new treatments for liver disease?

Scorpion venom peptides show promising anti-inflammatory, antiviral, analgesic, and immunomodulatory effects, with experimental evidence suggesting that some candidates could target pathways involved in chronic liver disease and viral hepatitis. The review highlights Kv1.3-blocking peptides and antiviral compounds as potential therapeutic leads, while emphasizing that limited hepatic efficacy data, poor pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and manufacturing challenges must be overcome before clinical translation.

8 Sep 2026

Why do older adults often feel better emotionally? Mindfulness may be part of the answer

In a cross-sectional U.S. sample of 129 adults, older age was associated with greater positive and lower negative emotional well-being, alongside greater dispositional mindfulness and lower neuroticism. Lower neuroticism statistically accounted for age differences in both positive and negative well-being, while mindfulness statistically accounted for differences in negative well-being only, although the study cannot establish causality.

8 Sep 2026

Could one amino acid help explain why men tend to live shorter lives?

A UK Biobank cohort and Mendelian randomization study involving 272,475 participants linked higher circulating tyrosine with greater all-cause mortality and genetically predicted higher tyrosine with shorter lifespan. After accounting for phenylalanine, the relationship with shorter lifespan was clearest in men, while findings in women were less consistent, suggesting a potential sex-specific role for tyrosine in longevity.

7 Sep 2026

Study reveals evolutionary advantage of human heel-first walking style

The average person takes thousands of steps each day, instinctively walking heel-to-toe. Although they hardly register them, those consistent heel-first strides are more unique to humans than previously thought and allowed early hominins to walk farther more efficiently, but at the cost of higher impact forces on bones and joints, according to a new study led by a researcher at Penn State.

7 Sep 2026

LSD deconstruction reveals promising new drug candidates

University of California, Davis researchers have stripped down LSD to the base features responsible for its hallucinogenic and therapeutic effects.

7 Sep 2026

Vaping rises among youth despite declining smoking rates

Three large studies together show that, although the number of people who smoke is declining, people are taking up smoking at a younger age and vaping has increased, particularly among children and younger people.

7 Sep 2026

GLP-1 treatment linked to 40% fewer asthma attacks

The diabetes and weight loss injection semaglutide can reduce asthma attacks by up to 40 per cent according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

7 Sep 2026

Scientists discover new mechanism for bacterial fosfomycin resistance

Bacteria can survive antibiotics in several ways, including by pumping the drugs out of their cells before they can take effect.

7 Sep 2026

Teenagers from disadvantaged families show greater eating disorder risk

Teenagers who come from households with a lower income and lower level of education are more likely to have an eating disorder, finds a new study co-led by UCL researchers.

7 Sep 2026

The vaginal microbiome may be an overlooked reservoir of antibiotic resistance

Researchers analyzed 1,957 vaginal metagenomic samples from 1,547 pregnant women and found that bacterial community structure was strongly associated with the diversity and distribution of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes. Lactobacillus crispatus-dominated communities carried comparatively few acquired resistance genes, while L. iners-dominated and anaerobe-rich communities showed greater resistance diversity, with PPROM associated with broader predicted resistance profiles among ARG-positive samples.

7 Sep 2026

GLP-1 drugs looked promising for depression. The evidence tells a more complicated story

A systematic review of 43 studies found highly heterogeneous results for GLP-1 receptor agonists across animal models and human research assessing depression-, anxiety-, and stress-related outcomes. No study directly tested these drugs as a treatment for PTSD, and the available evidence does not currently support their use for depression or PTSD, although people with metabolic dysfunction may warrant further investigation.

7 Sep 2026

Psilocybin microdosing sounds promising, but the strongest studies tell a different story

A systematic review of 11 studies involving 3,262 adults found that psilocybin mushroom and truffle microdosing was associated with reported improvements across areas including mental health, well-being, cognition, creativity, and social functioning. However, the evidence was methodologically weak and highly heterogeneous, the two placebo-controlled trials found no significant improvements, and inadequate adverse-event reporting means efficacy and safety remain uncertain.

7 Sep 2026

What mothers eat in pregnancy may shape a child’s weight years later

A prospective study of 252 mother-child pairs found that higher combined maternal fruit and vegetable intake during pregnancy was associated with lower odds of overweight or obesity in children at age four. Total and natural fruit juice showed no association, whereas higher commercial fruit juice intake was associated with increased odds, though the authors emphasized that this finding was exploratory.

7 Sep 2026

Deep sleep brain activity helps mice resist social stress

Most adult sleep is non-rapid eye movement (REM), which is restorative and promotes resilience to stressful conditions. However, the brain mechanisms for non-REM sleep's relationship to stress resilience remain unclear.

7 Sep 2026

Inhibitory neurons act as a brake on brain tumor growth

Brain tumors do not grow in isolation. They develop within the highly active environment of the brain, where neurons continuously exchange electrical and chemical signals.

7 Sep 2026

Bariatric surgery restores menstrual cycles and reduces polycystic ovaries in obese women

Metabolic bariatric surgery improves menstrual cycle frequency and symptoms of polycystic ovaries in women living with obesity, a new study from the University of Surrey reports.

7 Sep 2026

Experimental cancer drug could protect against osteoporosis and weight gain

An experimental cancer drug could stop osteoporosis and help women stay slim after the menopause – according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

7 Sep 2026

Atherosclerosis qualifies as an autoimmune disease

A new study in mice and patients shows that atherosclerosis meets the criteria for an autoimmune disease.

7 Sep 2026

Patients' responses to oncologists can help predict survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Patients' responses to questions routinely raised by oncologists may provide important clues about their chances of survival from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to a new study published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Hematology.

7 Sep 2026

Scientists traced a hidden immune route that may worsen tau-linked brain damage

In a mouse model of tauopathy, conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s) cross-presented brain-derived antigens in deep cervical lymph nodes, priming CD8+ T cells that accumulated in the brain and promoted neurodegeneration. Disrupting cDC1s or their cross-presentation activity reduced CD8+ T-cell infiltration and protected against neuronal loss, while human primary tauopathy samples also showed increased brain CD8+ T cells, although cDC1 involvement in humans remains unconfirmed.

6 Sep 2026