Author: healthadmin

Healthcare organizations are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence technologies, but there is no clear blueprint for how to measure the business value of these investments. According to a Menlo Ventures analysis last fall, the healthcare industry is adopting AI at more than twice the rate of the economy as a whole. According to a report by Silicon Valley Bank, investments in AI healthcare companies accounted for 46% of total spending, totaling $18 billion, making AI the dominant healthcare investment environment in 2025. However, many of these AI investments are not producing tangible results. A July 2025 report (PDF) from MIT’s NANDA…

People often find familiar shapes in random places. You may have looked at a cloud and imagined a sailboat, a seahorse, or even your great-aunt Rosemary staring back at you. Scientists call this tendency to find meaningful patterns in randomness “apophenia.” But in some cases, those patterns are very real. Associate Professor Saket Navlakha of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory studies hidden structures that appear throughout nature. One of the most well-known examples of organized patterning is the Voronoi diagram, a geometric system that divides space into discrete regions around a central point. A simple example is a school district. Each…

Recent research published in circulation research We provide evidence that specific molecules produced by gut bacteria can protect the heart from stiffness and dysfunction by communicating directly with the brain. This study suggests that restoring this bacterial byproduct may offer a new way to approach high blood pressure and related heart disease. Hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases involve complex interactions between the gastrointestinal, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. High blood pressure tends to make the heart muscle stiff and lose its ability to relax properly between beats, a condition known as diastolic dysfunction. Although this stiffness represents a major physiological cause…

Oysters, long associated with the North Carolina coast, are a delicacy that is difficult to farm due to factors both in and out of the water.Warmer weather brings new shellfish risks to North CarolinaOyster farmers in North Carolina face increased risks of disease, contamination and Vibrio bacteria as rising water temperatures and drought strain farms.Shellfish farmers face numerous challenges, including disease, pollution, and the effects of climate change.North Carolina’s oyster industry is recovering, but still faces threats from development and water quality degradation.Public health concerns about bacteria such as Salmonella and Vibrio can impact consumer confidence and sales.On Canada’s coast…

In New York state, a bill to reduce plastic waste is moving forward in the state legislature amid a confusing debate over chemical recycling. If passed, the bill would give New York state the strongest regulations in the nation regarding plastic packaging and could reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging in the state by 30 percent over the next 12 years. It would also require packaging manufacturers to fund recycling and disposal efforts. The bill, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, stalled in the past two Congresses. One of the obsessions of plastic producers is chemical recycling, which is…

All Gillian wanted was to regain control of her drinking. At 38 years old, she knew that alcohol had already put her marriage in jeopardy and was beginning to threaten her career. What started as a typical college prank turned into regular binge drinking at professional happy hours, and eventually an urge to drink all day long. Most days, the vodka bottles went from being full in the cabinet to empty to being placed in the recycling bin. “I got to the point where I said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t stop myself,'” Gillian said. Her boyfriend was at a…

Researchers have found that people who engage in more frequent enriching leisure activities, from museum visits to music to regular exercise, show signs of slower biological aging with cutting-edge epigenetic clocks. Research: Does leisure activity influence epigenetic aging? An analysis of arts engagement and physical activity in the UK Household Longitudinal Survey. Image credit: Bangkok Click Studio/Shutterstock.com recent innovation in aging This study investigates whether leisure activities such as artistic and physical activities are associated with the aging process. Measuring epigenetic mechanisms, lifestyle factors, and biological aging As the proportion of older people around the world increases, attention is shifting…

For decades, scientists believed that Japan’s population was primarily descended from two ancient groups. One is the Jomon period hunter-gatherers who lived on the archipelago for thousands of years, and the other is the East Asian immigrants who later brought rice cultivation and new technologies to Japan. But a large-scale genetic analysis by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences suggests the picture is much more complex. Using whole-genome sequencing of more than 3,200 people across Japan, the research team found evidence supporting a third ancestral group with ties to northeast Asia and possibly related to ancient Emishi.…

Just four weeks after switching to a diet rich in whole-food complex carbohydrates and plant-based foods, aging-related biomarker profiles changed in older adults. But scientists say this change may reflect rapid physiological adaptation rather than a true age reversal. Research: Short-term dietary interventions alter physiological profiles associated with aging. Image credit: Wuttichok Panichiwarapun/Shutterstock.com Short-term dietary interventions can alter age-related physiological changes in older adults, as reported in a new study published in . aged cells. How diet shapes physiological aging Aging is a multifactorial biological process characterized by complex molecular, cellular, and physiological changes. This inevitable biological process is usually…

Strong solar activity can produce amazing aurora borealis on Earth, but without the protection of Earth’s magnetic field, the sun could be extremely dangerous. Violent eruptions, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, can send high-energy particles into space, posing serious danger to astronauts and spacecraft. Some of these eruptions cause solar proton events (SPE), during which charged particles hurtle towards Earth at speeds up to 90% of the speed of light. In 1972, several SPEs exploded during the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 lunar missions. If astronauts had been exposed during their lunar missions, they could have been…