Health monitoring is becoming increasingly critical for disease prevention, early diagnosis, and high-quality living. Polymeric materials, with their mechanical flexibility, biocompatibility, and tunable biochemical properties, offer unique advantages for creating next-generation personalized devices. In recent years, flexible polymer-based platforms have shown remarkable potential to capture diverse physiological signals in both daily and clinical contexts, including electrophysiological, biochemical, mechanical, and thermal indicators. In this review, we introduce a safety-level-oriented framework to evaluate material and device strategies for health monitoring, spanning the continuum from noninvasive wearables to deeply embedded implants. Physiological signals are systematically classified by use case, and application-specific requirements such as stability, comfort, and long-term compatibility are highlighted as critical factors guiding the selection of polymers, interfacial designs, and device architectures. Special emphasis is placed on mapping material types—including hydrogels, elastomers, and conductive composites—to their most suitable applications. Finally, we propose design principles for developing safe, functional, and adaptive polymer-based systems, aiming at reliable integration with the human body and enabling personalized, preventive healthcare.

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) published today in Psychological Medicine demonstrates a significant and clinically relevant reduction in ADHD symptoms in adults using the digital therapy "attexis". Researchers from GAIA in Hamburg, in collaboration with the Saarland University Medical Center, the University Medical Center Mainz, the University Hospital Bonn, the University of Lübeck, and Kiel University, investigated the efficacy of the digital intervention, which is already permanently listed in the DiGA (Digital Health Applications) directory. The results are of particular relevance since access to care is often limited for adults with ADHD in Germany and Europe. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291726103390 

A paper published in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society describes the discovery of a new species of magic mushroom – Psilocybe ochraceocentrata – from the grasslands of South Africa and Zimbabwe. So named because of the ochre-yellow colour at the center of the mushroom cap, P. ochraceocentrata last shared a common ancestor with P. cubensis approximately 1.5 million years ago.

A research paper by scientists from East China University of Science and Technology, University of Applied Sciences Campus Vienna, and other institutions proposed a domain generalization model (DGIFE) for electroencephalography (EEG) signals, featuring structured feature decoupling and fine-grained data augmentation to address the domain bias challenge in cross-subject brain-computer interface (BCI) applications.

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly integrates into clinical settings—from predicting patient outcomes to deploying humanoid "robotic nurses"—an article published in the Hastings Center Report warns that the core of nursing, its moral agency, must remain a human-driven responsibility.