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Madeleine Cheung in front of a model of the Voyager spacecraft during one of her visits to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Credit: Madeleine CheungM.C.: In October 2023, two months into an America and World Relations course at my secondary school in Los Angeles, California, our teacher told us to find a mentor working in a field in which we were interested in pursuing a career. I wanted mine to be a scientist who could tell me about their day-to-day role and how they use their work to further humanity’s knowledge.But I wasn’t sure how to find one. My teacher suggested using…

Published in the journal Phytotherapy Research, the systematic review analyzed all available studies on ashwagandha’s safety of use, including assessments from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), which often collaborates with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on food safety issues and the World Health Organization (WHO).“The research not only covers what is known about ashwagandha’s safety but also highlights where research is lacking,” said Dr. Mark Tallon, food law expert and co-author of the review. He added that this is “important work given the Article 8 threat.”In EU law, Article 8 of the Food Supplements Directive allows regulators to…

Biofilm oral bacteria (in red) can persist undetected inside hardened arteries, leading to the increased risk of myocardial infarctions.Image credit:Pekka KarhunenWhile the world was busy solving Rubik’s Cubes and marveling over Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine in the 1980s, scientists began noticing a peculiar relationship between dental health and heart disease. Individuals who suffered myocardial infarctions—commonly known as heart attacks—or had chronic coronary heart disease had higher levels of antibodies against infectious bacteria found in dental plaques compared to healthy counterparts.1 This gave way to the idea that bacterial infections might cause chronic inflammation of arterial blocks, a key risk…

Gut health is increasingly synonymous with overall well-being, giving rise to targeted innovations in the mental health field stemming from the digestive tract. Psychobiotics are an emerging class of probiotics bioengineered to stimulate focus, memory, relaxation, and other areas of cognitive performance. New launches in the field tap into a growing consumer base that is highly conscious of the science behind the gut-brain axis. Nutrition Insight speaks to leading experts in the field, from Novonesis, AB-Biotics, Gnosis by Lesaffre, FrieslandCampina Ingredients, Tate & Lyle, and ADM.Kirsten Vaever Jokumsen, Ph.D., commercial industry manager at Novonesis, highlights.Clepius, the company’s latest solution featuring…

The older I get, the more I realize just how important the right shoes are. For me, I am usually walking for long periods of time for cardio and, whether outside or inside, I’ve noticed that less cushioned shoes just don’t seem to work for my recovery. Luckily for me, it seems like brands are finally coming out with plush pairs, and the technology is getting better and better. They’re lightweight, low profile and supportive if they’re a good pair.  I have so many incredible running shoes, but, even after the Hoka Skyflow shoe release in summer of 2024, these…

Luisa M Pettigrew, NIHR doctoral research fellow and senior policy fellow1 2, Aamena Valiji Bharmal, academic GP registrar3, Soraya Akl, general practitioner1, Josephine Exley, assistant professor1, Luke N Allen, co-director4, Irene Petersen, professor of epidemiology and health informatics5 6, David A Cromwell, professor of health services research1, Mays, professor of health policy11Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1H 9SH, UK2The Health Foundation, London, UK3School of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK4Global Primary Care and Future Health Systems, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford,…

Credit: wildpixel/ iStock/ Getty Images U.S. researchers have discovered how to dramatically lower the error rate of an advanced CRISPR-based genome editing approach, which could aid in the treatment of many genetic diseases. The revised prime editing strategy, outlined in Nature, could improve the safety of gene therapy for many inherited diseases. Prime editors make programmed genomic modifications, creating functional genes out of those that were previously faulty, but there is a small chance that harmful errors are created as byproducts. These insertion and deletion (indel) mutations generated instead of the intended edit within a fraction of the targeted cells…

It’s common knowledge that eating fruits and vegetables is good for your health. An analysis conducted by Harvard in 2021 states that consuming at least two servings of the former and three servings of the latter per day—combined with proteins, whole grains and legumes—lays the groundwork for a balanced diet. While everybody is different, this is generally good advice to follow.  But, there’s a catch: Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases a list of 12 foods with the most pesticide residue. Known as the Dirty Dozen, these fruits and vegetables can be potentially unsafe to eat if not washed…

Animal husbandry and ethicsAll experiments using mice were approved and performed in compliance with the Swiss Law on Animal Protection (Loi fédérale sur la Protection des Animaux) under licence numbers GE45/20 and GE81/14. All animals were kept as a continuous backcross with C57BL6 × CBA F1 hybrids. The mice were housed at the University of Geneva Sciences III animal colony, with light cycles between 07:00 and 19:00 in the summer and 06:00 and 18:00 in winter. Temperatures were maintained between 22 °C and 23 °C, with humidity levels between 45% and 55%. The air was renewed 17 times per hour. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) were maintained…

Recruitment of human participantsIn all studies involving human participants, we recruited participants from Prolific. We sought samples that were representative of the population of the USA in terms of age, self-identified gender and ethnicity. We note that this was not possible in study 3c, where our required sample size fell below their minimum threshold (n = 300).Study 1 on principal’s intentions (mandatory delegation)SampleInformed by power analysis using bootstrapping (see Supplementary Information (supplemental study C)), we recruited 597 participants from Prolific, striving to achieve a sample that was representative of the US population in terms of age, gender and ethnicity (Mage = 45.7; s.d.age = 16.2; 289 self-identified as female,…