Top medical news headlines for the week 10

Painless skin patch offers new way to monitor immune health

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have developed the first bandage-like microneedle patch that can sample the body's immune responses painlessly ...

Better sleep could reduce anxiety in later life

As humans grow older, their emotional stability and sleep patterns can change significantly. For instance, some past studies have found that many older adults find it harder to manage negative emotions, experience higher ...

How cocaine rewires the brain to drive relapse

When a cocaine addict relapses, it isn't a matter of personal failure—it's the biological result of their brain's rewiring, new research finds. Michigan State University scientists have found that cocaine changes how the ...

GLP-1 medications get at the heart of addiction, study finds

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown in a new study that GLP-1 medications may be effective at treating and preventing substance-use disorders across all major addictive substances ...

Tundra tongue: The science behind a very cold mistake

Touching your tongue to frozen metal must be a rite of passage if you're a five-year-old boy from a cold place. It's possibly more irresistible than hopping in mud puddles or sampling a newly frosted cake. But is it dangerous? ...

Research shows how lost memories can be reactivated

Researchers have used brain imaging to show how memories can be reactivated in the brain without them reaching conscious awareness, showing that these memories persist even when we think they have been forgotten. Scientists ...