THE MEDICAL NEWS

When a baby smiles at you, it's almost impossible not to smile back. This spontaneous reaction to a facial expression is part of the back-and-forth that allows us to understand each other's emotions and mental states.

This year's flu season is turning out to be brutal. As a new variant known as subclade K spreads rapidly, a study out today offers clues as to how to avoid the annual sickness.

Some parts of our bodies bounce back from injury in fairly short order. The outer protective layer of the eye-called the cornea-can heal from minor scratches within a single day.

About 1 in 5 patients with cancer who undergo genetic testing are incidentally found to have mutations in their blood called clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP).

A new meeting report was published in Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US on December 23, 2025, titled "Cellular senescence meets infection: highlights from the 10th annual International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) conference, Rome 2025."

For the first time, researchers at the University of British Columbia have demonstrated how to reliably produce an important type of human immune cell-known as helper T cells-from stem cells in a controlled laboratory setting.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded $7.4 million to support a University of California San Diego team developing a first-of-its-kind stem cell-based gene therapy for Friedreich's ataxia, a rare inherited neurodegenerative disease that causes progressive loss of coordination, muscle strength, heart function and overall mobility.

New preclinical research suggests that bowel preparation procedures for colonoscopies may temporarily alter gut balance, culminating in unappreciated effects in patients with compromised gastrointestinal health.

Using ribosome engineering (RE), researchers from Shinshu University introduced mutations affecting the protein synthesis mechanism of probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG).