Top medical news headlines for the week 27

Lab-grown retinal cells show promise for new eye therapies

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to grow specialized blood vessel cells critical to retinal health for the first time. When injected into mouse models of retinal disease, ...

Breast milk gives certain gut bacteria a head start

Breast milk helps shape the gut microbiota for longer than previously thought. Researchers from DTU and Rigshospitalet have discovered that sugars in breast milk, which are nondigestible by the infant—so-called human milk ...

Move to quit: Exercise boosts smoking quit rates

A pack-a-day smoker can spend around $14,000 a year on cigarettes, yet despite the financial and health costs, quitting remains one of the most difficult changes many people will ever attempt.

Extreme heat is rising—and so is the risk to your heart

As summer heat intensifies across the U.S., the American Heart Association is warning that soaring temperatures don't just make people uncomfortable—they can put serious strain on the heart and increase the risk of life-threatening ...

Invisible threads: How our environment quietly shapes disease

From the air we breathe to the food we eat, we are constantly exposed to thousands of chemicals—yet how these exposures affect our health has remained surprisingly difficult to understand. A new study led by researchers at ...

New obesity figures highlight the income divide

The number of obese adults in England rose from 26% in 2019 to 30% in 2025, according to a new analysis of 55 million people. Nearly 1 in 3 adults are now obese. But averages hide a lot, and behind this one are two very different ...

Five hidden pitfalls of fitness tracking

Many people in the U.K. now use apps, smartwatches or wearable devices to track their physical activity. Fitness trackers promise to help users become fitter, happier and healthier versions of themselves. For many people, ...

How do humans visually discriminate materials?

Researchers from the Cognitive Neurotechnology Unit, Vision and Action Laboratory, and Visual Perception and Cognition Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology ...

Speaking another language could slow aging in the brain

People who speak more than one language seem to have younger brains, according to research presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 2026. Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells ...