Researchers have proposed a new conceptual framework called “Health Elements” that positions digital technologies and AI as core structural drivers of health alongside biological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors. Published in Health Data Science, the framework argues that health outcomes emerge from dynamic interactions across multiple domains rather than from isolated risk factors alone. The study reflects growing recognition that digital systems—including algorithms, wearable devices, AI-enabled diagnostics, and health data infrastructures—are increasingly shaping health behaviors, access to care, and population-level outcomes.

The authors also discuss how multimodal health data integration, complex systems science, and AI-based analytical methods could support more adaptive public health and clinical decision-making. At the same time, they warn that algorithmic bias, digital inequity, and governance challenges may reinforce existing health disparities if ethical safeguards are not built into future digital health systems. An accompanying editorial describes the framework as a significant extension of traditional Social Determinants of Health models for the digital era.

As artificial intelligence systems become increasingly sophisticated, questions once confined to philosophy are rapidly entering mainstream scientific and public debate: Can AI possess consciousness? Could animals, organoids, or even fetuses have subjective experiences?

A research team led by Director Hakwan LAU of the Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), together with collaborators from the Université de Montréal and New York University, has published a new analysis arguing that current scientific methods may not yet be capable of reliably answering such questions. The paper critically examines how consciousness is currently studied in neuroscience and argues that many widely used experimental approaches fail to clearly distinguish subjective experience from general information processing.

Average support for gender equality worldwide has plateaued, in part because of higher population growth in countries where support is low and higher fertility among those with less egalitarian views. 

Student teams from Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, and Sierra Vista Middle School in Irvine, California, took top honors at the 42nd Annual Science Olympiad National Tournament at the University of Southern California on Saturday, May 23, 2026. This is the second time that Monta Vista High School has captured the title and adds a back-to-back championship for Sierra Vista Middle School.