Pharmaceutical companies, generic manufacturers, and pharmacists should be more careful about changing how pills look.
Vetenskapsnyheter
Could locally-sourced wool restore peatlands and reduce the carbon cost of conservation?
Too much bacteria linked to faeces found at almost all England's designated river bathing sites
<p>In antiquity, women were considered the more sexual sex – hornier, more libidinous and lust-fuelled than men. Why did that perception change?</p><p>All across the world, you will probably have read, people are having less sex. In Britain and the US, in France and Australia, frequency of sex has been on the decline (although <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/19/denmark-no-sex-recession">Denmark appears to be bucking the trend</a>). In 2018, the US magazine the Atlantic declared a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-sex-recession/573949/">“sex recession”</a>, while last December the Telegraph ran a piece headlined “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/sex-is-dying-out-this-is-why-it-matters/">Sex is dying out. This is why it matters</a>”.</p><p>As an ancient historian with a particular interest in the history of sex, this drought is fascinating to me – not least because some of the articles I have read seem keen to hark back to the historical period I spend most of my time researching. “Sex should be more wild and plentiful than it has been since ancient Greece,” reported the Telegraph. But antiquity was no bastion of sexual freedom – especially for women.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/15/nymphomaniacs-sex-droughts-what-i-learned-while-studying-womens-pleasure">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Although blood test reduces deaths by two for every 1,000 men screened, many could face unnecessary treatment </p><p>Screening for prostate cancer with a blood test can save men’s lives, but the “absolute benefit is small” and many men could face unnecessary treatment and medical complications, according to the most comprehensive study yet.</p><p>In a review that analysed six trials involving nearly 800,000 men, screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test reduced prostate cancer deaths by two for every 1,000 men screened, meaning 500 men must be screened to prevent one death from the disease.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/15/prostate-cancer-screening-save-lives-benefit-small-study">Continue reading...</a>
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing likely reduces the risk of death from prostate cancer, found a new review
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01504-wSome bacterial species became less abundant in the guts of American football players as the season progressed.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01575-9Nature staff discuss some of the week's top science news.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01503-xThe personalized treatment encourages the immune system to attack the tumours called glioblastomas.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01558-wEight of the top ten officials at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have now been pushed out since President Donald Trump took office.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01391-1Brandon Brown sees parallels between life as an academic and tending a citrus grove following his move to the country.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01559-9Could spinach extracts be the next treatment for dry-eye disease?
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01083-wForging connections.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01590-wThe Trump administration has spent months investigating the lab after a Chinese postdoc was charged with smuggling biological material into the country.
Nature, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01534-4A survey of more than 300 mouse strains has found widespread discrepancies between how mutant mice are reported and their actual genetic make-up.
<p>The nation’s top court extended a stay on a lower court order banning telemedicine access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions—but the order sets up a longer legal fight</p>
The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved women’s access to the abortion drug mifepristone, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.
Study suggests "the bias is real but socially constructed, rather than grounded in how women actually sound."
<p>The El Niño climate event is due to return this year, with U.S. forecasters predicting an 82 percent chance of it coming in May through July and a 96 percent chance for it doing so in December through February 2027</p>
This week's episode of “The Readout LOUD” is all about health politics, including Marty Makary's departure as FDA commissioner. Listen now.
What do we know about the disease following its outbreak on a cruise ship this month?
<p>A mathematical ratio could explain why AI-generated art doesn’t evoke awe from viewers</p>
<p>In a “breakthrough,” researchers demonstrate how engineered bacteria held in a jellylike container could help fight infection in mice</p>
Read Executive Editor Rick Berke's letter to STAT readers on "The Deadliest Drug," a new investigative series into the country's failure to address excessive alcohol use.
<p>The hantavirus cruise outbreak may not have started in a garbage dump in Ushuaia, Argentina, after all</p>