Mind & body, in brief

The PsychAD Consortium, a group of US research teams funded by the National Institutes of Health, has published the largest map yet of gene activity in the human prefrontal cortex. [1][2]

The prefrontal cortex sits behind the forehead. It helps with planning, decisions and self-control. [1][3]

The team read which genes were switched on in more than 6.3 million single brain cells. [2] The cells came from 1,494 people who gave their brains to science after death. [2][3]

The donors ranged from babies to a person aged 108. [1] Some had no brain illness, and others had one of eight, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. [1]

The papers came out on 23 September in the science journal Nature and its sister journals. [1][3]

In healthy brains, gene activity changed fast in early life, held steady from about age 24, and began changing again at around 65. [1][4]

The late-life changes showed up mostly in the brain's support cells. They involved the immune system, stress responses and the body's daily clock. [4][1]

Across the eight illnesses, the team found some cell changes that several illnesses share and others that belong to one illness only. [2]

A companion study built a picture of the cells in each of more than 1,900 brains. It found five groups that differed in how far Alzheimer's had gone and how well people could think. [5]

Other papers tied known genetic risk for brain illnesses to particular cell types. They found thousands of links that studies of whole ground-up tissue had missed. [6][7]

All the data and methods are open to any researcher. [2] Panos Roussos of Mount Sinai in New York, the senior author, says other brain regions are needed for the full picture. [2][1]

A separate study found nearly two-thirds of PsychAD's donors were of European ancestry. It warns that such gaps can carry into tests and treatments built on the data. [8]

Why it matters. Watch whether researchers use the open data to find treatments for the depression, agitation and sleep problems that come with dementia, which the NIH says the project was set up for. [2]

Fiji, a Pacific island nation of fewer than a million people, has declared a national emergency over HIV. [20] In a statement on 15 September, Fiji's government said it recorded more than 2,000 new cases in 2025, 16 times as many as in 2019. [20] It estimates one adult in 60 now has the virus. [20] The rise came with more drug injecting. [20] Health workers blame injected crystal meth, a strong stimulant, and bluetoothing: drawing blood after a hit and injecting it into another person. [21]

Why it matters. Injecting someone else's blood passes on whatever viruses it carries, which is why workers in Fiji say people are sharing blood, not just needles. [21] UNAIDS, the United Nations' HIV programme, called Fiji's rise one of the sharpest in the world. [20]

GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy copy a gut hormone and work mainly by making people feel full. [22][23] Nature reported on 24 September that 10 to 15 in every 100 users lose little or no weight. [22] In one study at the Mayo Clinic, a large US hospital and research centre, some people felt full after 140 calories while others needed more than 2,000. [23] Those who needed the most did worse on liraglutide, an older GLP-1 drug. [23] Among 27,885 research volunteers at 23andMe, one gene change added about 0.76 kg of weight loss per copy. [12]

Why it matters. A Mayo Clinic doctor says patients who do not respond often see themselves as failures, though the cause may lie in their biology. [23] The Endocrine Society, a doctors' group, calls matching each person to the right drug largely an aim for now. [22]

Shingrix, the newer shingles vaccine, replaced an older one called Zostavax in the United States in late 2017. [24] Oxford researchers compared about 72,000 people aged 60 and over, vaccinated in the six months either side of the switch. [25] Over seven years, the Shingrix group was 9% less likely to develop heart disease, heart failure or a stroke. [24] Heart failure was 12% lower and heart disease from narrowed arteries 10% lower. [26] The study appeared in the journal Nature Medicine on 26 August. [24]

Why it matters. People did not choose which vaccine was on offer, so the comparison is less likely to be skewed by healthier people choosing to get vaccinated. [25] It is still not a trial, and first results from a Danish trial of about 162,000 people are expected in 2027. [25]

In mid-September the US Department of Health and Human Services asked for stories from people who believe phones, Wi-Fi or wearables harmed them. [18] Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced it at a conference of Children's Health Defense, a group that has spread unfounded claims about vaccines. [18] In January the FDA, the US medicines regulator, removed web pages saying phone radio waves had not been linked to health problems, the Wall Street Journal reported. [27] Twelve reviews commissioned by the WHO found no or very small effects on cancer below safety limits. [18]

Why it matters. Radio waves from phones are too weak to break DNA, which is how X-rays can cause cancer. [18] A bioengineer told the magazine Scientific American that personal stories cannot show whether devices cause harm, while a careful review of all the evidence can. [18]

A trial took 566 adults who had some anxiety or low mood but no diagnosed disorder. [17] Two groups got an eight-session online course based on cognitive behavioural therapy, a talking therapy: one with a personal guide, one with automatic messages. [17] A third group waited. [17] Within a year, 19.4% of the guided group and 14.8% of the automated group developed an anxiety or depressive disorder, against 30.9% of those waiting. [17] It was published in October 2025. [17]

Why it matters. These people had symptoms but no disorder yet, so the course was tested as prevention, not treatment. [17] For every six to eight people who took it, one fewer developed a disorder within the year. [17]

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, is a talking therapy aimed at sleep. [28] A 2026 review in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews pooled 53 reports covering 13,608 adults with insomnia. [28] The therapy lowered depression symptoms more than control groups did at 3, 6 and 12 months after it ended. [28] The effect was modest and shrank over the year. [28] A small trial found four video-call sessions during the pandemic improved both sleep and mood over 28 weeks. [29]

Why it matters. Insomnia and depression often come together. [28] Treating the sleep problem also eased the low mood, and the gain lasted a year, though it got smaller. [28]

Between 15 and 25 in every 100 lung cancers are in people who never smoked, depending on the region. [30] A study in the journal Science, reported on 17 September, found a very rare gene change linked to 25 times the odds of lung cancer in never-smokers. [13] In the US the change is far more common in Southern Appalachia, a mountain region in the east. [13] The team used genetic data from 23andMe. [13]

Why it matters. Experts said the change probably explains only a small share of these cancers. [13] Lung cancers in never-smokers often carry different gene changes from smokers' cancers: EGFR, which some targeted drugs act on, turns up in 43% against 11%. [31]

In anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, the immune system makes antibodies against a receptor that brain cells use to pass signals. [9] It can look like a psychiatric illness at first. [32] A 2025 case report describes a 26-year-old woman whose sudden psychiatric symptoms led to a coma. [32] Doctors found a tumour on her ovary, and after immune treatment and surgery to remove it she slowly recovered. [32]

Why it matters. A review published in October 2025 says the evidence for a separate illness called autoimmune psychosis is still lacking. [9] It also warns that antibody tests are being ordered widely in psychiatric patients, with little thought about who is likely to have the disease. [9]

Researchers examined the midbrain, a small region deep in the brain, in donated brains from 63 people with schizophrenia, 33 with bipolar disorder and 61 with neither. [10] They sorted the brains into high- and low-inflammation groups. [10] In the high-inflammation group, genes for TNF, an immune signal, and its receptors were among the most changed, mostly in support cells. [10] A separate 2026 study of 49 people at high risk of psychosis found their immune signals and complement, a set of blood proteins that fight infection, differed from healthy peers. [33]

Why it matters. The first study was published in November 2025. [10] Its authors say drugs that block TNF should now be tested in patients who show high inflammation. [10]

Genetic studies have found more than 250 places in DNA linked to schizophrenia. [34] A team combined several methods on data from 67,390 people with schizophrenia and 94,015 without. [34] It picked out 101 genes, and 15 of them are already targeted by approved or experimental drugs. [34] Seven of those 15 have never been tested in trials for any psychiatric illness. [34] The study was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry in February. [34]

Why it matters. Drugs that already exist could be tried for schizophrenia, rather than starting from nothing, the authors say. [34]

Researchers led from the University of California, San Francisco followed 11,286 US young people through five yearly check-ins. [15] When a teenager's social media use became more problematic, their parents reported more symptoms of ADHD, a condition of attention and impulse control, a year later. [15] Problem use means signs such as trying and failing to cut down. [35] The link held for boys but not for girls. [15] The study was published in the journal JAMA Network Open in July. [15]

Why it matters. The study compared each young person with themselves over time, which earlier one-off surveys could not. [15] It still shows a link, not proof that the apps cause the symptoms. [15]

On 20 May the US health department published a surgeon general advisory saying too much screen time harms children's health. [19] The country had no confirmed surgeon general at the time. [19] The advisory says US children start watching screens before age one, and teenagers often spend more time on screens than at school. [19] Advisories are not rules; they are guidance for lawmakers. [19]

Why it matters. Some experts say blanket limits may not fix the problems the advisory names, because scrolling social media and doing a school project on a screen are very different. [19]

A short report published in February in JAMA, a US medical journal, measured phone use by 640 US teenagers, average age 15, with an app on their phones. [14] They spent an average of 1.16 hours on their phones during school hours. [14] Social media took the most time, about 30 minutes. [14] Video apps and games took about 15 minutes each. [14] Older teens and those from lower-income homes used their phones more at school. [14]

Why it matters. More schools are banning or limiting phones. [19] Its figures came from an app on each phone, not from what teenagers remembered. [14]

A study of 7,947 US adolescents, average age 12.9, compared family screen rules with the children's screen use a year later. [36] Using screens as a reward or punishment, and screens in the bedroom, went with more screen and phone time. [36] Parents who used a lot of screens themselves, or kept screens on at meals, had children who used them more. [36] Parents who watched and limited screen time had children who used them less. [36]

Why it matters. It was published in June and shows links, not causes. [36] It fits a 2024 finding from the same study that family conflict went with more screen time and closer parental watching with less. [37]

Researchers followed 7,528 US children aged 8 to 13 for two years. [38] Children whose social media use was high and climbing scored lower on memory tests two years later than children who used little or none. [38] Even low but rising use went with lower scores on some tests. [38] The study was published in March. [38]

Why it matters. It checked the children's memory at the start and allowed for it, so the lower scores came after the change in use. [38] It still shows a link over time, not proof that social media caused the drop. [38]

A study of 7,691 US adolescents, average age 12, compared daily social media time with cannabis use two years later. [39] More social media time went with a higher chance of having tried cannabis. [39] Part of the link ran through beliefs: teenagers who expected cannabis to feel good were more likely to try it. [39] Those expectations explained about a fifth of the link. [39] The study was published in October 2025. [39]

Why it matters. Cannabis is the third most used drug among US teenagers, after alcohol and tobacco. [39] The study allowed for friends' cannabis use, which could otherwise explain both habits. [39]

Muscle dysmorphia is a condition in which a person believes their body is too small or not muscular enough. [40] A review published in late 2025 gathered what is known about it in adolescents and young adults. [40] It says the condition is increasingly recognised in boys and young men, as ideals shift toward a lean, muscular body. [40] One study found 1.8% of 3,618 Australian adolescents met strict criteria. [40] Another found 17.2% of 2,256 young Canadians at clinical risk. [40]

Why it matters. The review says treatment evidence in large groups of young people is still scarce. [40] It notes that programmes to prevent eating disorders may also reduce these symptoms. [40]

A 2025 review pooled 49 trials with 20,118 adults testing fully automated digital CBT-I, sleep therapy given by an app or website with no therapist. [16] It lowered insomnia severity scores by about 3.4 points more than control groups. [16] The effect was larger in studies that used strict rules for diagnosing insomnia. [16] A small trial of online sessions in 40 people with type 2 diabetes found no difference in the main sleep score. [41]

Why it matters. Results varied hugely between studies, which the authors flag. [16] The diabetes trial did find more regular sleep, and less anxiety two months after the sessions ended. [41]

Interest has grown in whether germs living in tissue play a part in cancer. [42] The Sherlock-Lung study looked for germs in 940 lung cancers from people who never smoked, using three detection methods. [42] It found very few bacteria. [42] It found no consistent link between the lung's germs and age, sex, ancestry, second-hand smoke, cancer stage or survival. [42] It was published in the journal Nature Communications in December 2025. [42]

Why it matters. Earlier studies on lung tissue were small. [42] The authors say any null result could change if better ways of detecting germs arrive. [42]

Researchers studied mice with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, the antibody disease of the brain. [11] The antibodies made microglia, the brain's own immune cells, produce more of a protein called C1q. [11] Patients with the disease also had raised C1q in the fluid around the brain and spine. [11] In the mice, an antibody that neutralised C1q reduced the damage. [11] The work appeared in the journal Molecular Therapy in November 2025. [11]

Why it matters. This is mouse work, and no patient has been treated this way. [11] The authors say C1q could become a target for treatment. [11]

A study in the journal Cell Reports Medicine in March tested a common worry: that GLP-1 drugs strip muscle along with fat. [43] In obese mice the drugs mostly removed fat, and the liver shrank more than muscle did. [43] Muscle mass and strength fell slightly, but muscle relative to body size improved and the mice ran better. [43] In middle-aged men on the drugs, body make-up improved without a loss of strength. [43]

Why it matters. The human part was a small early trial that the authors call a proof of concept. [43]

HRS-7535 is an experimental daily pill that acts on the same receptor as GLP-1 injections. [44] A trial at 29 centres in China gave it or a dummy pill to 235 adults with obesity but not diabetes. [44] After 26 weeks, people on the highest dose lost 9.36% of their body weight, against 2.50% on the dummy pill. [44] Stomach and gut side effects were the most common. [44] The results were published in June. [44]

Why it matters. The lowest dose did no better than the dummy pill, so the dose mattered. [44]

NPR, a US public radio network, reported in February on people with eating disorders who take GLP-1 drugs. [45] One man it followed has anorexia and still takes a monthly shot, fearing he will regain weight if he stops. [45] Nearly one person in ten meets the medical definition of an eating disorder during their life. [45] The drugs are easy to get online with little screening. [45]

Why it matters. Very little is known about how the drugs affect people who binge or restrict food, NPR found. [45]

A study in Johannesburg, South Africa, compared 360 adults by how COVID-19 had affected them: no symptoms, symptoms, hospital, or vaccinated comparison. [46] Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (21.1%) and of distressing physical symptoms (22.9%) were high. [46] People who had COVID-19 with symptoms had the most depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. [46] Worse long COVID went with worse mental health. [46]

Why it matters. It was published in July. [46] Little is known about long COVID's mental effects in sub-Saharan Africa, the authors say, and this study adds data from Johannesburg. [46]

Researchers tested 101 adults, average age 23, once a week for six weeks. [47] Each week they rated their insomnia and depression and did a task measuring how hard they would work for a reward. [47] Among those with more depression symptoms, a week of worse insomnia predicted less effort for rewards the next week. [47] The study was published in January. [47]

Why it matters. Sleep problems and a loss of drive for rewards are both tied to depression starting and lasting. [47] This links the two week by week in the same people. [47]

Two trials gave 170 people sleep therapy over the internet for 9 or 12 weeks. [48] Some had insomnia alone and some had insomnia with depression. [48] Before and after, 124 of them took computer tests of attention, planning and emotional reactions. [48] Scores improved on 7 of the 17 measures. [48] Having depression made little difference to most scores. [48]

Why it matters. People with insomnia often report that their thinking suffers, but tests had rarely checked it. [48] It was published in September 2025. [48]