June 30, 2025

Health News

Top Health News — ScienceDaily Top stories featured on ScienceDaily’s Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain, and Living Well sections.

  • Scientists just found a sugar switch that protects your brain from Alzheimer’s
    on June 30, 2025 at 2:04 pm

    Scientists have uncovered a surprising sugar-related mechanism inside brain cells that could transform how we fight Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It turns out neurons don’t just store sugar for fuel—they reroute it to power antioxidant defenses, but only if an enzyme called GlyP is active. When this sugar-clearing system is blocked, toxic tau protein builds up and accelerates brain degeneration.

  • This AI tracks lung tumors as you breathe — and it might save lives
    on June 30, 2025 at 1:05 pm

    An AI system called iSeg is reshaping radiation oncology by automatically outlining lung tumors in 3D as they shift with each breath. Trained on scans from nine hospitals, the tool matched expert clinicians, flagged cancer zones some missed, and could speed up treatment planning while reducing deadly oversights.

  • Ancient DNA reveals leprosy hit the Americas long before colonization
    on June 30, 2025 at 12:07 pm

    Leprosy’s tale stretches from 5,000-year-old skeletons in Eurasia to a startling 4,000-year-old case in Chile, revealing that the rare strain Mycobacterium lepromatosis haunted the Americas millennia before Europeans arrived. Armed with cutting-edge ancient-DNA sleuthing, scientists have pieced together remarkably well-preserved genomes that challenge the idea of leprosy as purely a colonial import and hint that the disease may have homegrown American roots awaiting confirmation by future finds.

  • Scientists discover ‘off switch’ enzyme that could stop heart disease and diabetes
    on June 30, 2025 at 7:57 am

    Researchers at UT Arlington have discovered a key enzyme, IDO1, that when blocked, helps immune cells regain their ability to properly process cholesterol—something that breaks down during inflammation. This breakthrough could offer a powerful new way to fight heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. By “turning off” this enzyme, the team restored cholesterol absorption in macrophages, potentially stopping disease at the source. Even more promising, they found a second enzyme, NOS, that makes things worse—raising hopes that targeting both could pave the way for transformative treatments for millions suffering from inflammation-driven conditions.

  • Fire smoke exposure leaves toxic metals and lasting immune changes
    on June 30, 2025 at 4:29 am

    Smoke from wildfires and structural fires doesn t just irritate lungs it actually changes your immune system. Harvard scientists found that even healthy people exposed to smoke showed signs of immune system activation, genetic changes tied to allergies, and even toxic metals inside their immune cells.

  • The gene that hijacks fear: How PTEN rewires the brain’s anxiety circuit
    on June 29, 2025 at 9:06 am

    Deleting a gene called PTEN in certain brain cells disrupts the brain’s fear circuitry and triggers anxiety-like behavior in mice — key traits seen in autism. Researchers mapped how this genetic tweak throws off the brain’s delicate balance of excitation and inhibition in the amygdala, offering deep insights into how one gene can drive specific ASD symptoms.

  • Brain scan breakthrough reveals why Parkinson’s drugs don’t always work
    on June 29, 2025 at 8:35 am

    Researchers are using an advanced brain imaging method called MEG to understand why Parkinson’s drug levodopa doesn’t work equally well for everyone. By mapping patients’ brain signals before and after taking the drug, they discovered that it sometimes activates the wrong brain regions, dampening its helpful effects. This breakthrough could pave the way for personalized treatment strategies, ensuring patients receive medications that target the right areas of their brain more effectively.

  • This brain scan sees Alzheimer’s coming—but only in some brains
    on June 29, 2025 at 8:13 am

    USC researchers have found a promising new brain scan marker that could better detect Alzheimer’s risk — but only for some. The tau-based benchmark works in Hispanic and White populations when paired with another Alzheimer’s protein, amyloid, but falls short for Black participants, revealing critical gaps in current diagnostics.

  • A tiny implant just helped paralyzed rats walk again—is human recovery next?
    on June 28, 2025 at 2:33 pm

    A groundbreaking study from the University of Auckland and Chalmers University of Technology is offering new hope for spinal cord injury patients. Researchers have developed an ultra-thin implant that delivers gentle electric currents directly to the injured spinal cord. This device mimics natural developmental signals to stimulate nerve healing, and in animal trials, it restored movement and touch sensation in rats—without causing inflammation or damage.

  • Scientists turn beer yeast into mini factories for smart drugs
    on June 28, 2025 at 2:06 pm

    A team of researchers has turned ordinary yeast into tiny, glowing drug factories, creating and testing billions of peptide-based compounds in record time. This green-tech breakthrough could fast-track safer, more precise medicines and reshape the future of pharma.