Pregnancy and Childbirth News

August 29, 2026

Top Headlines

Dogs May Hold Surprising Clues to Human Longevity

Aug. 29, 2026 Dogs and humans may have more in common when it comes to aging than scientists realized. Researchers with the Dog Aging Project found that patterns of small molecules in dogs’ blood were linked to longer or shorter lifespans in remarkably similar ...

Long-term Melatonin Use Linked to 90% Higher Heart Failure Risk

Aug. 29, 2026 People with chronic insomnia who used melatonin long term had a roughly 90% higher risk of developing heart failure over five years, according to a large preliminary study. The findings do not prove melatonin causes heart problems, but they raise ...

Experimental Eye Drops Help Blind Mice See Again

Aug. 28, 2026 Scientists have created light-activated drugs that helped blind mice perceive light again and restored visually guided behavior without gene therapy, implants, or specialized lighting. Even more intriguingly, two of the most promising compounds ...

A Common Vape Flavoring May Disrupt Early Embryo Development

Aug. 28, 2026 A popular vanilla flavoring in e-cigarettes may interfere with some of the earliest steps of human development. In lab experiments, vanillin caused embryonic stem cells to lose their ability to develop normally and pushed them toward forming only ...

Eating More Ultra-processed Foods May Raise Prostate Cancer Risk by 30%

Aug. 27, 2026 Ultra-processed foods make up a huge share of the American diet, and new research suggests they may carry another serious health risk for men. In a nationally representative study of more than 17,000 U.S. men, those who ate more ultra-processed ...

Scientists Discover a Brain “Brake” That Can Shut Down Chronic Pain

Aug. 27, 2026 Researchers discovered a brain-based “brake” that can shut down chronic nerve pain in mice by calming an overactive pain circuit. Targeting this system more precisely could one day lead to powerful pain relief without affecting opioid receptors ...

What You Eat Before Age 2 May Affect Your Health 70 Years Later

Aug. 26, 2026 Britain’s postwar sugar rationing created a rare natural experiment that let researchers examine how early sugar exposure might affect health decades later. People who experienced more rationing during their first 1,000 days had lower rates of ...

A Missing Color in Indoor Light May Help Prevent Myopia

Aug. 26, 2026 A wavelength of light largely missing from indoor LEDs may play an important role in protecting developing eyes from nearsightedness. Researchers found that indigo light completely prevented myopia in tree shrews, whose eyes share important ...

Childhood Trauma May Leave a Lasting “Scar” Inside Brain Cells

Aug. 26, 2026 Early-life stress may physically alter how DNA is packaged in the brain, leaving stress-related genes primed to activate more easily years later. In mice, researchers were able to block this effect, preventing the heightened anxiety and stress ...

Shingles Vaccine Linked to 24% Lower Dementia Risk

Aug. 25, 2026 Older adults who received the Shingrix shingles vaccine were 24% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia over four years in a study of more than 500,000 people. Researchers estimate the difference could amount to roughly one dementia case ...

Supercharged “Natural Killer” Cells Could Be a Powerful New Cancer Weapon

Aug. 25, 2026 Researchers have found a way to supercharge natural killer cells, powerful immune cells that can attack cancer, so they can penetrate solid tumors and keep fighting once inside. In mice, these ...

Depression May Shut Down the Brain’s Ability to Make New Neurons

Aug. 25, 2026 A major study found that adults with depression show disrupted production of new neurons in the hippocampus, potentially weakening the brain’s ability to separate new experiences from painful memories. The researchers also identified broad ...

Latest Headlines

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Too Much or Too Little Sleep May Make Your Body Age Faster

Aug. 24, 2026 Both too little and too much sleep may be linked to faster aging throughout the body. Researchers analyzing 23 biological aging clocks found the lowest aging levels among people sleeping about 6.4 to ...

Gut Bacteria May Unlock a Hidden Benefit of Vegetables

Aug. 23, 2026 Gut bacteria can transform nitrate and plant-based iron from vegetables and other foods into protective molecules that may benefit the heart and metabolism. In experimental models, higher levels of ...

A Major Alzheimer’s Risk Gene May Shrink Brain Cells Years Before Symptoms

Aug. 23, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a possible reason why the Alzheimer’s risk gene APOE4 can disrupt the brain long before memory problems begin. In mice, ...

Experimental Compound Helps Burn Fat Without Muscle Loss

Aug. 23, 2026 A decades-old compound may point to a new way of treating obesity by making the body burn more energy rather than simply reducing appetite. In mice, TOFA increased energy use by as much as 18%, ...

Cannabis Use Linked to 37% Higher Stroke Risk in Massive Study

Aug. 23, 2026 A massive analysis involving more than 100 million people has found strong links between recreational drug use and stroke, including among younger adults. Cocaine was associated with nearly double ...

This Common Vitamin Was Linked to 13% Better Cognitive Scores

Aug. 23, 2026 Older adults with mild cognitive impairment and sleep problems who took at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily scored more than 13% higher on a cognitive test than those taking none. The preliminary ...

Exercise May Work Better for Keeping Weight Off Than Losing It

Aug. 22, 2026 Exercise may not be a powerful weight-loss tool on its own, but it appears to play a much bigger role in preventing lost weight from returning. By preserving muscle, supporting metabolism, improving ...

Multilingual People May Have Brains Up to 13 Years Younger

Aug. 22, 2026 People who speak several languages may have brains that age more slowly, with four-language speakers showing brains that appeared about 13 years younger than those of monolinguals. Starting earlier ...

This Yeast Supplement May Boost Cancer-Fighting Immunity

Aug. 22, 2026 A simple yeast-based food supplement may help restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, according to new research in mice. Scientists found that yeast beta-glucan reprogrammed early ...

Tooth Count May Predict Survival After Pancreatic Cancer Surgery

Aug. 21, 2026 Pancreatic cancer patients with at least 21 natural teeth survived nearly two years longer after surgery than those with fewer teeth in a study of 339 people. Researchers suspect tooth loss may ...

Knee Osteoarthritis Isn’t Inevitable — Here’s What You Can Do

Aug. 20, 2026 Knee osteoarthritis can seriously affect mobility and quality of life, but its progression isn’t completely out of your control. Exercise, stronger leg muscles, a healthier diet, and even modest ...

A Mother’s Age Can Shape Her Offspring Without Changing Their DNA

Aug. 19, 2026 Scientists have found evidence that the effects of a mother’s age on her offspring may be driven by reversible changes in gene activity rather than permanent DNA damage. The discovery raises the ...

Coffee Drinkers Have Less Fat, More Muscle, and Surprising Hormone Differences

Aug. 19, 2026 Coffee drinkers may be getting more than an energy boost. A Finnish study found that people who drank more coffee tended to have less total and abdominal fat, more muscle, and healthier metabolic ...

A Surprising Brain Discovery Could Help Explain Why We Overeat Fatty Foods

Aug. 13, 2026 A protein inside appetite-controlling brain cells may play an important role in preventing overeating and obesity, particularly when high-fat foods are readily available. Unexpected differences ...

Women Taking Estrogen Had Fewer Signs of Alzheimer’s in Their Brains

Aug. 14, 2026 Women who used estrogen-only hormone therapy later in life were less likely to develop dementia and showed fewer signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains, according to a large study of more ...

This Weight-Loss Hormone May Protect the Liver Even Without Weight Loss

Aug. 21, 2026 A hormone already known for curbing appetite and supporting weight loss may have a surprising second job: protecting the liver from inflammation and scarring. Researchers at McMaster University found ...

A Surprising Triple Treatment Completely Clears Hiv in Newborn Primates

Aug. 13, 2026 Researchers have found a striking new way to potentially eliminate HIV soon after infection using a one-time combination of three therapies. In newborn nonhuman primates treated within three days of ...

Marine Heatwaves Are Harming Human Health in Surprising Ways

Aug. 11, 2026 Marine heatwaves are emerging as a threat not just to coral reefs and fisheries, but to human health and well-being. Researchers warn that unusually hot oceans can fuel stronger storms, trigger ...

COVID-19 Awakens Dormant Viruses — and One Is Linked to Long COVID

Aug. 15, 2026 COVID-19 can reactivate dormant viruses hiding in the body, including Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus, and several herpes viruses. One poorly understood viral family was strongly associated with long ...

Immune Cells Flood Into the Aging Brain, Stanford Scientists Discover

Aug. 14, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the aging human brain may be far less isolated from the rest of the body than once believed. Stanford researchers found that large numbers of immune cells from the ...

Dirty Air May Trigger Painful Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares

Aug. 5, 2026 Tiny pollution particles from smoke, soot, and dust may worsen rheumatoid arthritis and raise the risk of painful flares, particularly after prolonged exposure. The findings suggest that avoiding ...

THC Medication Made PTSD Nightmares Disappear for More Than a Third of Patients

Aug. 5, 2026 A prescription form of THC helped many people with PTSD escape recurring trauma-related nightmares, with more than one-third reporting that the nightmares disappeared completely after ten weeks. The ...

A Little Movement in Midlife Could Pay Off for Your Brain Years Later

Aug. 16, 2026 Exercise and healthy blood sugar levels in midlife may help slow cognitive decline decades later. Physical activity appeared especially beneficial for Mexican American adults, suggesting that some ...

A Simple Supplement Could Help the Immune System Fight Cancer and Viruses

Aug. 3, 2026 Low arginine levels may allow cancer cells and viruses to slip past the immune system by reducing production of a crucial cellular warning protein. In mice, arginine-rich diets led to fewer colon ...

Two Deadly Flowers Could Inspire Powerful New Medicines

Aug. 3, 2026 Scientists have figured out how two famously poisonous plants create chemicals with surprising medical potential. After tracking thousands of genes in wolfsbane and larkspur, they identified six ...

Eating Less Protein Could Slow Aging, Major Review Finds

Aug. 2, 2026 A sweeping review of more than 350 studies suggests that the protein boom may be overselling what many people actually need. Eating less protein appears to improve metabolism, reduce inflammation and ...

A Common Sugar May Help Cancer Cells Break Free and Spread

Aug. 4, 2026 Chemotherapy-surviving ovarian cancer cells may release fructose to help neighboring tumor cells loosen, escape, and spread. The discovery suggests that sugary diets and cholesterol-lowering drugs ...

Scientists Discover How Gut Bacteria “train” the Intestine to Fight Inflammation

Aug. 20, 2026 A compound made when gut bacteria break down dietary fiber may do more than briefly calm inflammation—it could leave a lasting protective “memory” in the gut. Northwestern Medicine researchers ...

Scientists Find a Simple Routine Linked to Less Pain and Depression

July 30, 2026 Keeping a regular daily schedule may help reduce pain and depression, especially among older adults with insomnia. Researchers found that consistent times for waking, eating, socializing, and ...

When Gut Microbes Run Low on Fiber, They May Start Eating You

Aug. 15, 2026 Gut microbes need something to eat, and when fiber is limited, they may begin consuming proteins from the mucus lining that protects the gut. Researchers found that fiber can suppress this process, ...