Chronic illness

A simple haircut may reveal more than just split ends. By testing for the stress hormone cortisol, which is stored in hair, researchers can identify kids with chronic illness who face the greatest risk of anxiety, depression, or behavioral struggles.

When scientists study obesity, it's often focused on genetics, physical activity and poor eating habits. However, new findings show that stress, hardship, isolation and social inequality create the biological environment that underpins the epidemic.

A new drug candidate could become a first-in-class medication, after impressive results in a mid-stage clinical trial for drug-resistant epilepsy. It now moves to Phase 3 trials, raising hope for people who suffer seizures despite being on medication.

People who eat high ultra-processed diets have a specific elevated health marker that's a telltale sign of chronic inflammation – even without any symptoms. This inflammation is a slow burn, contributing to diseases likes heart conditions and diabetes.

When we eat as we get older changes, but what impact this has on our health isn't well understood. New research, however, has found that in midlife and beyond, eating one particular meal later in the day is linked with a higher risk of early death.

A new study combining brainwave monitoring and machine learning has found that certain types of music can dramatically reduce motion sickness symptoms – by more than half in some cases – offering fresh hope for more pleasant travel experiences.

Scientists have discovered how alcohol cuts off an immune surveilence system in the gut, letting bad bacteria escape detection and flood the liver, causing widespread damage. This inflammation is the key driver of alcohol-associated liver disease.

The first-ever neuroimmune modulation implant has been approved for people with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. It's a potentially life-changing technology that zaps chronic pain with daily one-minute electrical pulses to the vagus nerve.

For the first time, researchers have shown how staying hydrated influences how our bodies react, hormonally, to stress, keeping cortisol in check and in turn lowering the risk of serious health conditions including heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Some things we eat or drink raise our risk of deadly diseases. Strangely, once we have those diseases, a recent paper claims the same factors can help us live longer. Does this survival twist, dubbed "Cuomo's Paradox," challenge decades of nutritional advice?

Adding to the growing body of evidence supporting the health benefits of cramming all your weekly exercise into two days, a large new study has found that it can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular mortality in adults with diabetes.

What if you could inject a drug into a "problem area" – like the abdomen – and have it safely and rapidly kill off fat cells? We could be within 12 months of this reality, as the world's first safe, targeted fat-loss jab enters Phase 3 trials.