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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Oct-2026 15:16 ET (31-Oct-2026 19:16 GMT/UTC)

Internationally recognized expert leads University of Maryland School of Medicine program in sickle cell disease

University of Maryland School of Medicine
Business Announcement

Enrico M. Novelli, MD, MS, has been named Director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Program in Sickle Cell Disease and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology. An internationally recognized expert in sickle cell disease, he will treat patients at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) and serve as Chief of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) Sickle Cell Disease and Classical Hematology Network, a new initiative to expand access to care for patients with sickle cell disease across Maryland.

Dementia affecting younger persons strikes Hispanics more than previously thought, UT Health San Antonio-led study shows

The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led by researchers at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, finds that frontotemporal dementia, a form of dementia that strikes younger people between ages 45 and 64, affects Hispanics more than previously thought.

Stretchable antenna keeps wearable health sensors in tune with human health

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The more a person bends, stretches, reaches or runs, the harder it can be for a wearable health monitor to keep a stable wireless connection. Penn State researchers set out to solve that problem by developing a soft, stretchable antenna that can keep working even when pulled in different directions.

Journal: Nature Communications

Europeans are increasingly worried about climate change

Kaunas University of Technology
Book Announcement

Contrary to what is often assumed, the polycrises – from finance to war – did not push the environment off the public agenda over the last decade – quite the opposite. In 2010, Europeans saw the economy and health as the main challenges facing their countries; by 2020, health had become the number one (in the context of COVID), but the environment also moved up and overtook some other topics, even though one might expect it to drop off the agenda in times of crisis.

AI underwater robots can now track diver stress via exhaled bubbles

University of Minnesota
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind AI system that allows underwater companion robots to monitor a diver’s health in real-time, simply by "watching" their exhaled bubbles.

Journal: The International Journal of Robotics Research

What October 7 taught hospitals about preparing for modern warfare

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study of an Israeli hospital's response to the October 7 attacks shows that while years of disaster training enabled staff to continue treating patients under rocket fire, real wartime conditions exposed critical gaps in communication, staffing, logistics, and casualty distribution. The findings offer practical lessons that could help hospitals worldwide prepare for prolonged armed conflicts and other large-scale emergencies.

Journal: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Floating colonies: engineering three-dimensional microbial architectures in liquid cultures

Institute of Science Tokyo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new liquid-based platform called “floatony” can form and maintain complex three-dimensional microbial structures without solidifying the surrounding medium, report researchers from Japan. Using a liquid drawing technique, the team suspended bacteria within a specially tuned “canvas solution,” achieving stable colonies that preserve molecular diffusion, spatial structures, and cell mobility. This approach could offer new ways to study gut microbiota, biofilms, and other spatially organized microbial communities.

Journal: Biofabrication
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Scientists at Nagoya Institute of Technology uncover molecular basis of red–green color vision

Nagoya Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Our ability to see color comes from changes in proteins around the same retinal molecule in cone cells, which alter how it absorbs light. Unravelling the molecular mechanism of spectral tuning, Nagoya Institute of Technology researchers studied macaque cone pigments, which closely resemble human ones, and found that just three amino acid changes explain nearly all of the difference between red and green light detection. The findings show how small structural changes shape color vision.

Journal: Science
Funder: Nakayama Foundation for Human Science, Heiwa Nakajima Foundation, Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology, Astellas Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders, Kazato Research Foundation, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, JSPS KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas, MEXT Promotion of Development of a Joint Usage/Research System Project, Coalition of Universities for Research Excellence, JST PRESTO, JST FOREST, JST ACT-X, JST CREST, National Center for Gene Therapy and Drugs based on RNA Technology, US National Science Foundation, Italian Ministry of University and Research, Center for Photochemical Sciences at Bowling Green State University, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Kyoto University Research Coordination Alliance, BINDS programs

Alzheimer’s biomarker P-tau 217 is weak in preclinical studies

Ruhr-University Bochum
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The misfolding of the amyloid beta protein is the strongest blood-based predictor for Alzheimer’s disease in the asymptomatic stage, indicating the risk of the disease years before it is clinically diagnosed and much earlier than the widely used plasma biomarker P-tau 217. This is the conclusion reached by a study led by Professor Klaus Gerwert (PRODI, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany). The research team analyzed blood samples from 17 years of 779 subjects in the population-based ESTHER cohort of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to compare the effectiveness of leading blood biomarkers throughout the entire course of Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine on July 16, 2026.

Journal: EMBO Molecular Medicine