Research simplified

A doctor explains what peptides are. Peptides are short chains of the same building blocks that make up proteins. She sorts the best known ones into groups, by what each is studied for. The groups include healing, recovery, weight, focus, stress and sleep. She says much of what is known comes from studies in cells and animals, not people.

A long film from DW, a German public broadcaster. It is about the gut and the tiny living things inside it. It follows three people. One is a young athlete training for a long race. One lost his large bowel to a disease that inflames it. One has lived with a common bowel problem for 13 years. Gut doctors explain how the gut talks to the brain and the parts that fight germs. The film also shows how much about the gut is still not known.

A news report about cancer of the colon, the lower part of the gut. It is showing up more often in young people. A children's hospital in Ohio looked back at 84 cases in people 21 or younger. Most were found late, after the cancer had spread. A teen who was treated tells her story. A cancer doctor says signs in young people are often missed for months.

A doctor explains a new blood test for Alzheimer's, a disease that takes away memory. The US drug regulator cleared it for people over 55 who already have memory problems. It looks for a protein linked to sticky clumps in the brain. She says it is right about nine times out of ten. She also says a positive result does not always mean the disease will follow. She says it is not yet offered in Canada.

A doctor on Canadian TV news explains a decision by Health Canada, the country's drug regulator. It widened the use of a medicine for hot flashes and night sweats. Now it covers women being treated for breast cancer. Many of them take drugs that lower estrogen, a body hormone. That often brings hot flashes. The new medicine works on a spot in the brain that controls body heat. The doctor says a study of about 400 women showed fewer and milder hot flashes.

A news interview about a study that followed over a thousand men for four years. Researchers linked dirty air to small changes in how sperm genes are switched on and off. Two gases from cars and factories showed the strongest links. A fertility expert explains what this might mean for men and their future children. He says the study is early, and the full results are not out yet.

A doctor talks about two studies shared at a large Alzheimer's meeting in Toronto. Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly takes away memory. One study followed thousands of adults for ten years. It linked walking to a lower risk, even in people with a risk gene. A second study, from Finland, looked at exercise, brain games and food together. The doctor says a gene does not decide what happens. She also says much of this work is still early.

A short film from Harvard Medical School. A scientist talks about integrins, tiny parts on the outside of cells that help them stick. Without them, the body's cells would fall into a shapeless blob. The scientist says this work was paid for by the US government's health research agency. It helped lead to medicines for skin, gut and nerve diseases, and for blood clots.

A BBC News report on the Human Cell Atlas, a map of the body's cells. Scientists learned how skin forms from early cells, and which genes switch on. They grew tiny bits of skin, with small hairs, in the lab. The work was published in the journal Nature. The scientists hope it may one day help with scars, skin grafts and signs of aging.

A BBC podcast talks with a professor who studies how the brain controls hunger. He says these medicines copy gut hormones that tell the brain the body is full. The copies last about a week in the blood, not two minutes. He says food makers and restaurants are now making smaller, richer portions. He names side effects, like nausea, and worries the wrong people may get the medicine. He adds that a pill form could cost less and be easier to reach.