Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel win the medicine Nobel for a way to switch chosen brain cells on and off with light, using a protein from a green alga

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19 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Women report more pain everywhere in the body

   A study in the journal Nature Medicine pooled answers from more than 6 million people in 118 countries, collected between 1990 and 2025. [12] Women reported more pain than men at all 11 body sites measured, most of all headache, face and stomach pain. [12] Back pain was the most common, at about 40% of people, and face pain the rarest, at 2%. [12] An earlier review found women in mid-life about 16% more likely than men to have long-lasting pain. [13]

   Back pain40%

   Face pain2%

   Why it matters — Pain is the world's leading cause of disability, and the study linked 18% of it to smoking, obesity and low income. [12] Why women carry more of it is still open: a US-funded study in mice tied the gap to an immune signal that helps end pain, which has not been tested in people. [14]

2. 03

   Cancer in under-50s rises fastest in England

   The World Cancer Research Fund, a cancer-prevention charity, compared official cancer records from England, the US and the Netherlands. [15] In England, prostate cancer in men under 50 went from 1 to 3.6 cases per 100,000 people between 2001 and 2023. [15] Bowel cancer in under-50s went from 3.9 to 8.4. [15] In the US, kidney cancer in under-50s more than doubled after 2000. [15] Lung cancer fell in young adults in all three countries, as fewer people smoke. [15]

   20013.9

   20238.4

   Why it matters — Cancer under 50 is still uncommon, and most people are over 60 when they are diagnosed. [15] The charity points to obesity, diet and alcohol, and to earlier checks, but an earlier English study found body weight explained only a small part of the rise. [16] Worldwide, the WHO expects new cancer cases to rise from 20.6 million a year to nearly 35 million by 2050. [38]

3. 04

   Pennsylvania passes 1,000 measles cases

   Pennsylvania's health department confirmed 1,004 measles cases this year on Monday, the largest outbreak in a US state in more than three decades. [17] Five people have died and 198 have been in hospital. [17] Lancaster County, home to large Amish and Mennonite communities, has 391 of the cases. [17] The same day, New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, declared a disaster emergency over 108 cases and let more health workers give the measles jab. [18]

   Why it matters — Measles spreads again when fewer than about 95 in every 100 people are vaccinated, health experts say. [18] The national count is disputed: the CDC, overseen by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, lists two US measles deaths this year, while Pennsylvania alone counts five. [17]

4. 05

   A model of Florida without its school measles rule

   Florida's health department has proposed dropping several school vaccine requirements and letting parents opt out on moral grounds. [19] Researchers used a computer model, published in the journal PNAS, to ask what would happen if the state also dropped its measles jab rule. [19] The model projected the largest US measles epidemic in nearly half a century. [19] It also found that vaccinating one child cut spread about three times as much as vaccinating one adult. [19]

   Why it matters — Children spend long hours in close contact at school, which is why the model puts the risk in classrooms. [19] A model is a forecast built from assumptions, not a count of real cases. [19]

5. 06

   HIV tests and prevention pills running out

   The International Planned Parenthood Federation, a network of sexual-health groups in more than 170 countries, surveyed members in 40 countries. [20] More than half had run out of an HIV product in the past year, and HIV rapid tests were the hardest hit. [20] PrEP, a medicine that stops people catching HIV, was low or gone at 12 of them. [20] A separate survey of clinics in 38 countries in late 2025 found 81% had lost at least one HIV service after US aid was frozen. [21]

   81 of 100

   clinics in 38 countries that lost at least one HIV service

   Why it matters — Aid spending fell by about 23% in 2025, and the UN warned that HIV could come back. [20] Treatment has held up better than feared: US figures show the number on US-supported treatment fell by only about 100,000, out of more than 20 million, in a year. [22]

6. 07

   Tanzania's clinics run short of contraception

   The US supplied most of Tanzania's birth control until it stopped abruptly in 2025, when the Trump administration shut USAID, its aid agency. [23] Patrick Kinemo, who runs the health charity MSI Reproductive Choices in Tanzania, says rural clinics often run out of the most popular methods. [23] The US also ordered almost $10 million of contraceptives in a Belgian warehouse destroyed, many of them meant for Tanzania. [23]

   Why it matters — New US health deals with Tanzania cover HIV, tuberculosis and mothers' health, but not family planning, Kinemo says. [23] One in five maternal deaths in Tanzania is linked to unsafe abortion, and about 8,000 girls a year leave school because they are pregnant. [23]

7. 08

   A US crisis line for LGBTQ youth reopens

   988 is the US phone, text and chat line for people thinking about suicide or in crisis. [24] Its special option for LGBTQ young people was shut in July 2025 and restored on 30 September 2026, after members of both parties in Congress pushed for it. [24] Before it closed, the option took more than 1.5 million contacts, about 10% of all 988 contacts, and its use was rising. [24] Congress had kept funding it at $33.1 million a year. [24]

   Why it matters — LGBTQ high-school students report thinking about and attempting suicide more often than other students. [24] KFF, a US health research group, says the year-long closure may have cost young people's trust. [24] In June, STAT reported that the Trevor Project, the charity that helped build the line, might not be allowed to run it. [25]

8. 09

   Waiting lists for home care in the US

   Medicaid, the US public health plan for people on low incomes, pays for more than two-thirds of the long-term care given in people's homes and communities. [26] KFF estimates that more than 5 million people on Medicaid use home care. [26] Most of it is optional for states, which can cap the number of places and keep waiting lists. [26] A 2025 law is expected to cut federal money for Medicaid by a large amount. [26]

   Why it matters — KFF says waiting lists could grow if states respond by cutting places. [26] Some states have already cut their programmes, while in others the proposed cuts did not pass. [26]

9. 10

   Ten-minute GP slots and women's cancer checks

   Doctors in Wales say ten-minute GP appointments leave too little time to check for cancers of the womb, ovaries and cervix. [27] Dr Amara Naseem says a careful history and an internal examination take about 20 minutes. [27] In a survey for the cancer charity Tenovus, about half of 100 GPs in Wales called short appointments a major concern. [27] The Welsh government says it is recruiting up to 100 extra GPs. [27]

   Why it matters — Rates of these cancers in Wales, and deaths from them, are higher than the UK average, Tenovus says. [27] Early signs such as bloating are easy to confuse with harmless conditions, which takes time to sort out in a short visit. [27]

10. 11

    A suspected plague death in Siberia

    A 28-year-old woman who worked at an anti-plague institute near Irkutsk, in Siberia, died of pneumonia on 2 October. [28] Russia's disease-control agency says tests found no germ linked to her work, which contradicts earlier reports. [28] Two hospitals and a children's clinic were put under quarantine, and local reports said the institute's staff were isolated at work. [28] Plague is caused by a bacterium carried by rodents and their fleas. [28]

    Why it matters — Pneumonic plague, the form that settles in the lungs, is the only one that passes easily between people, through coughing. [28] Without treatment it is always fatal, and symptoms can start within 24 hours, which is why the WHO says it can start severe epidemics. [28]

11. 12

    A molecule restored memory in Alzheimer's-like animals

    A Greek team led by Giorgos Skretas reports that a molecule called RSQ-020 restored learning and memory in animals with features of Alzheimer's disease. [29] It targets tau, a protein that folds into the wrong shape and clumps in the disease. [29] To find it, the team put the human protein into bacteria that glow green when a molecule puts the protein right. [29] Each bacterium made a different candidate molecule, so billions could be tested at once. [29]

    Why it matters — Misshapen proteins are a common feature of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS, and the team first built the method for ALS. [29] The results are from animals only; the molecule has not been tested in people. [29]

12. 13

    Heat is making pregnancy riskier, health workers say

    Wellcome, a global health charity, surveyed 1,000 midwives, doctors and other maternal health workers in Australia, Brazil, India, the UK and Zimbabwe. [30] Nearly three in four said heat-related problems in pregnancy had increased over the past five years. [30] Wellcome links every 1C rise in temperature to about 5% more premature births and 7% more diabetes in pregnancy. [30] Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, cited the survey at a meeting in Fiji on 5 October. [30]

    Why it matters — Women who work outdoors, or have no cool place at home, have the least protection, Stiell said. [30] A Wellcome project with 1,600 women in Zimbabwe and South Africa is testing cheap protections such as fans, water bottles and roofs painted white. [30]

13. 14

    Heat tried as a treatment for low mood

    Eva Hilland, a brain scientist at Oslo Metropolitan University, is recruiting 50 people for a trial that adds sauna sessions to simple mental-health habits. [31] When she searched the research, she found little strong evidence, and most human studies had no fair comparison group. [31] The best so far is a trial of 30 people with depression: about half were warmed to 38.5C in a heat machine and the rest got a fake treatment. [31] Within a week, most of the heated group had their symptoms halved. [31]

    Why it matters — Sauna users report calmer moods and better sleep, but some of that may come from company and time away from screens rather than heat. [31] A trial that assigns sauna by chance is how those two get separated. [31]

14. 15

    Moving and new ideas go together

    Christian Rominger, a psychologist at the University of Graz in Austria, led a 2022 review of 115 studies that found a link between movement and creativity. [32] A 2024 study found that people who took more steps produced more creative work. [32] David Strayer at the University of Utah measured people before and after hiking trips and found a big rise in creativity afterwards. [32] Scientists do not yet know why. [32]

    Why it matters — One idea is that movement lifts mood and a better mood helps ideas come, but Rominger says the two cannot yet be tied together. [32] Strayer says benefits seem to start at about three sessions a week of 30 to 60 minutes. [32]

15. 16

    Fibre maxxing: the part that holds up

    On social media, 'fibre maxxing' means eating as much fibre as possible and paying close attention to bowel movements. [33] Bill Sullivan, a microbiologist at Indiana University, told Scientific American there is sound evidence for eating fibre up to the recommended level. [33] The US Department of Agriculture puts that level at 22 to 34 grams a day for adults, and Sullivan says there is no need to go beyond it. [33] Gut bacteria turn fibre into substances that calm inflammation. [33]

    Why it matters — People who live long and healthy lives tend to have a wider variety of gut bacteria. [33] Scientists cannot yet say whether the gut causes the long life or comes with it, and trials that transplant gut bacteria are one way to find out. [33]

16. 17

    Childhood hardship and stress before pregnancy

    Researchers in China studied 2,235 pairs of mothers and daughters. [34] About 18% of the mothers and 14% of the daughters reported hard childhoods, such as abuse or neglect. [34] Daughters with a hard childhood had about twice the odds of serious stress in the year before pregnancy, such as conflict with a partner, abuse or money trouble. [34] Most of the link between a mother's childhood and her daughter's stress ran through the daughter's own childhood. [34]

    Why it matters — The study shows things that go together, from what people remembered, rather than proving a cause. [34] Its authors want hard childhoods spotted before pregnancy, when support can still reach mother and baby. [34]

17. 18

    Vegans and meat-eaters, four years on

    A small study called RBVD tested 24 vegans and 26 meat-eaters, aged 30 to 60, in 2017 and again in 2021. [35] The vegans ate more fibre and less saturated fat, and had lower total and 'bad' LDL cholesterol both times. [35] Their vitamin B12 levels matched the meat-eaters', but their selenium and zinc were lower each time. [35] Both groups ate about the same amount of energy. [35]

    Why it matters — Fifty people followed for four years cannot show what a diet does to health over decades, and the authors say longer research is needed. [35]

18. 19

    A cholesterol drug changed brain waves in NF1

    Neurofibromatosis type 1, or NF1, is an inherited condition that can make it harder to read emotions and to learn. [36] In a trial, 15 people with NF1 took lovastatin, a cholesterol drug, and a dummy pill, in random order, without knowing which was which. [36] On lovastatin, one kind of brain wave linked to reading faces fell while they judged emotions, but not during a control task. [36] The drug acts on a chain of chemical signals inside cells that is disturbed in NF1. [36]

    Why it matters — Because every person took both the drug and the dummy, the change can be put down to the drug rather than to differences between people. [36] It is a small, early study of brain signals, not of daily life. [36]

19. 20

    Walking fitness and stiff arteries after menopause

    Researchers measured 118 healthy East Asian women past menopause, with an average age of 61. [37] Women who walked further in a six-minute test had less stiff arteries, measured by how fast a pulse travels from the neck to the thigh. [37] More fat packed around the organs went with stiffer arteries. [37] Heart and blood-vessel disease kills more women after menopause than any other illness. [37]

    Why it matters — It is a single snapshot of 118 women, so it shows what goes together, not what causes what. [37] The authors still want programmes that cut belly fat and get women walking. [37]