News without the noise
Medical research and breakthroughs: new treatments, drugs and surgery, disease and the body, each story combined from several outlets.
26 articles
Sydney's Canterbury Hospital has apologised after more than 3,000 unread emails, including elective surgery referrals, were discovered in an unchecked inbox, with some dating back to late 2025. The Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) said it launched a review as soon as the problem was identified and that all affected patients were being contacted to reschedule their surgeries.
Scientists at the University of Southern California have discovered a method to generate a potentially limitless supply of cancer-fighting immune cells, a breakthrough that could address two of the biggest challenges in cell-based cancer immunotherapy: manufacturing enough cells and keeping them active inside the body for long enough to work.
Early clinical trials of an experimental injection called CBL-514 have reported promising results in reducing fat by destroying fat cells rather than shrinking them, a novel approach that could help prevent weight regain after GLP-1 drug use. The findings, presented at a medical conference and based on company data, have not yet been peer-reviewed.
An experimental drug developed at Michigan Medicine has reversed a severe form of fatty liver disease in animal studies by protecting the gut lining and reducing harmful bacteria that trigger liver inflammation, researchers report. The compound, DT-109, targets the gut rather than the liver directly, offering a potential new approach to treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a condition affecting roughly 7% of the global population.
Hato Hone St John has introduced 16 female-form manikins into its free community CPR and AED training programme, aiming to address a well-documented gender gap in survival following cardiac arrest.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first two gene therapies for sickle cell disease in 2023, raising hopes of a cure for thousands of patients. Yet access to the treatments remains uneven, with costs, complex procedures and limited specialized centers keeping the therapies out of reach for many eligible patients.
Melbourne researchers are developing a treatment they hope will prevent the progressive blindness caused by Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that is the leading cause of deafblindness in Australia. The therapy, called EDITRA, aims to correct the genetic error behind one variant of the syndrome by repairing the cell's RNA instructions rather than replacing the faulty gene itself.
A pioneering same-day test has been used to detect hidden and drug-resistant infections among more than 100 critically ill children in intensive care at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), according to a report by the BBC. The metagenomic sequencing test can identify bacteria, viruses and fungi from a single respiratory sample, often influencing treatment decisions and catching infections that standard methods miss.
Doctors in Saudi Arabia have successfully separated 13-month-old conjoined twins from Fiji in a complex, 13-hour operation. The sisters, Dicecea and Jesepeli Kikau, were born joined at the lower abdomen and pelvis, a condition known as omphalo-ischiopagus tetrapus.
A BBC health reporter has waded into a question facing many parents: should a 12-year-old be allowed to use protein powder? The question arose at home, where her son Ben has asked about 20 times to try the supplement, claiming it would make him "fitter and bigger" and noting that his male friends already use it.
Scientists say they have, for the first time, revived pig kidneys that were cooled to -150 °C and stored in a freezer for months, with one organ kept in a glass-like state for more than a year. After rewarming, testing in machines and transplanting into pigs, the kidneys regained their color and produced urine, key signs that they were working. The team hopes the findings can eventually be replicated with human organs.
Pope Leo XIV is recovering in hospital after surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican has confirmed, announcing that the 71-year-old non-smoker had adenocarcinoma, the most common form of the disease. The growth was found during a routine health check, and his case has put a spotlight on rising lung cancer rates among people who have never smoked.
A chronic shortage of blood in both military and civilian settings is accelerating research into synthetic blood substitutes, as data shows hemorrhage remains the leading cause of preventable battlefield deaths and a major factor in maternal mortality worldwide. The effort, driven in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), seeks to overcome the logistical challenges of transporting and storing real blood in combat zones and remote areas.
A world-first international trial launching in Melbourne will test three caffeine dosing regimens on about 4,000 premature babies in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, in a bid to determine the safest and most effective way to use the drug in neonatal care.
Women with autoimmune conditions are up to 74% more likely than men to be told their symptoms are psychological or psychosomatic, and face longer waits for a diagnosis and treatment, according to a study by the University of Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, published in the Lancet eClinicalMedicine journal.
A new ten-year study of nearly 40,000 hospital admissions in Victoria has found that cannabis-related hospitalisations increased by 49% between 2013 and 2023, with cannabis-induced psychosis as the leading cause, according to researchers from Monash University.
A 16-year-old girl who was born with thalassemia has spoken of how her life has been transformed after becoming one of the first young people to receive a gene-editing treatment that freed her from the monthly blood transfusions she had endured for most of her life.
Surgeons in Edinburgh have performed the first testicular tissue transplant in the UK, transplanting frozen tissue back into a 19-year-old patient in the hope it will begin producing sperm after chemotherapy left him infertile.
An Australian-led clinical trial has for the first time produced evidence that an experimental drug called SNT-4728 can reduce inflammation in the brains of people at high risk of developing Parkinson's disease, raising hopes of a treatment that could slow or even stop the condition before symptoms become debilitating.
A growing body of research suggests that people who were conceived and born during Britain's post-war sugar rationing – which ended in 1953 and 1954 – have measurably better long-term health outcomes, including a lower risk of diabetes and other chronic conditions, compared with those born just after restrictions were lifted.
Until recently, dementia was regarded as a grim genetic lottery, but new World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines estimate that at least 45 per cent of dementia risk can be attributed to modifiable factors, rising to 50 per cent in Australia, according to Professor Kaarin Anstey, the only Australian on the WHO guidelines panel.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for the development of optogenetics, a technique that uses light to precisely activate or silence neurons in living brains. Their work, which began with studies of light-attracted single-celled algae, has built an entire field of neuroscience research.
GP and hormone expert Dr Louise R Newson has described how a revamped daily routine of yoga, balanced eating, and disciplined rest has made her feel better at age 56 than she did in her 20s and 30s. Writing in The Age, Dr Newson emphasised that lifestyle changes, not hormone replacement therapy alone, are key to improving healthspan.
After two decades of failed trials and dashed hopes, dementia research has entered what scientists describe as a breakthrough era, with the first drugs that modify Alzheimer’s disease approved in Australia and a blood test able to detect biomarkers up to 20 years before symptoms appear. The World Alzheimer Report 2026, released late last month, declares the condition “no longer universally described as untreatable” and points to “remarkable scientific momentum” in the field.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth of the United States and Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel of Germany for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers to control nerve cell activity with light. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the prize on Monday.
For years, observational studies suggested that light-to-moderate drinkers had a lower risk of dementia than non-drinkers, a pattern known as the J-shaped curve. But leading experts now say that idea has been largely discredited, with newer research pointing to no safe level of alcohol for brain health.