In May 2026, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration filed suit against Character Technologies Inc., the company behind the popular chatbot platform Character.AI. A state investigation found that a chatbot character named “Emilie” claimed to have a medical degree, seven years of practice and a Pennsylvania medical license – ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the first time, Los Angeles County residents can see how many people are ending up in emergency rooms, their bodies pushed past the limit, during heat waves.

The county Department of Public Health says its new Heat-Related Illness and Mortality Dashboard will provide heat illness counts in “near real time,” which means ...Read more

Whether you’re playing chess, playing center field or performing on stage, your body draws energy from tiny organelles within each cell called mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. But until recently, scientists have not fully understood exactly how cells sense and use nutrients to support mitochondrial function.

A study from the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- When Emma Walz learned she landed an internship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she ran to the bathroom, jumped up and down, and cried happy tears.

She had dreamed of working at CHOP since being treated there for cancer as a child, but hadn’t expected to get to start her career there. After the internship, Walz ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My older sister recently went through menopause and was surprised to learn it could affect more than periods and cause hot flashes. What should women know about these changes to heart, brain and bone health as we get older?

ANSWER: Menopause is a natural transition that marks the end of a woman's reproductive years. It's ...Read more

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pursuing federal government access to most Americans' medical records, in a quest to research a link between vaccines and autism — a connection the medical establishment studied for decades and flatly rejects.

The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking data from little-known state ...Read more

The Trump administration’s rollout of a federal mandate that millions of Americans on Medicaid must work or risk losing health benefits will force states to scrap months of preparation, according to advocates for Medicaid enrollees and consultants advising states.

And they say an overhaul — less than seven months before states must start ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Google took internet searches to the next level. Could it do the same for mosquito control?

The Silicon Valley-based tech giant is seeking to release up to 64 million sterilized male mosquitoes in California and Florida over two years, according to a notice in the Federal Register. It’s part of an ambitious effort to curb the ...Read more

Vaccine hesitancy fed by misinformation is causing new surges of measles and whooping cough, while COVID-19 hotspots persist in some states and a new threat looms from an Ebola outbreak in central Africa.

Nationally there have been 1,983 measles cases this year, nearly the 2,288 total for all of 2025, which in itself was the worst year since ...Read more

On April 10, 2025, several hours after finishing a hike in Sedona, Arizona, Jan Anderson started repeating herself.

"Did we hike this morning?" she asked.

"Yes, we hiked," said her husband, Steve Francks. "And you did really well."

But 15 seconds later, she asked the same question: "Did we hike today?"

Anderson, 65, a retired finance ...Read more

When Christine Wood received a $12,000 bill from Bristol Hospital, she thought it must be a mistake. It was more than she and her husband made in a month combined.

“I’m freaking out,” said Wood, who lives in a 1,700-square-foot home in Terryville, a village just outside Bristol, Connecticut. “I don’t understand it.”

Wood, 52, had ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: A good friend was diagnosed with lupus. Can you tell me more about it, how it's treated and if there are new options that could make a difference in her quality of life?

ANSWER: Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues. The exact cause isn't fully understood, but...Read more

Kenya will continue work on an isolation and treatment unit at an airbase in the East African nation that can be used to house U.S. servicemen exposed to the Ebola virus, its health secretary said.

“We will not stop it,” Aden Duale told lawmakers in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday. “Let’s not politicize the health of our citizens.”...Read more

Health savings accounts (HSAs) offer a rare triple tax advantage: Contributions are tax-deductible, investments grow tax-free and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.

Those tax benefits come with an important responsibility, though. If you take tax-free withdrawals from your HSA, you should be able to document that the money...Read more

We’ve all felt tired at different times of the day. While low energy is common, several factors can contribute to fatigue or an energy crash — what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat, your sleep quality, and more. The good news: certain foods can help fuel your body with long-lasting energy. These seven fruits can give you a natural ...Read more

Keeping saturated fat intake low (under 10% of calories) is a cornerstone of dietary advice, but a recent research review suggests it may have less impact for people already at low risk for heart disease.

The review, published online Dec. 16, 2025, by Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed 17 randomized controlled trials (involving 66,337 people...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’ve read that following the Mediterranean diet is good for your heart, but I’m not quite sure why. Could you fill me in?

ANSWER: Extensive research over the years continues to pinpoint the Mediterranean diet as one of the best for your heart. Why? It helps reduce chronic inflammation in the body.

Not all inflammation is ...Read more

The federal government released new guidance this week on how states should roll out the Medicaid work requirements that will affect healthcare coverage for millions of Americans.

The new interim rule, issued by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is intended to give states more details on how they’re supposed to verify the ...Read more

A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.

The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially ...Read more

An Albanian man’s pain grew so unbearable, he said, he pulled out his own tooth as he languished for months in a New Mexico immigration detention center. A Honduran mother of two said she was hospitalized for a heart problem after she was denied blood pressure medications while held in Florida. A Venezuelan man said his leg grew purple and ...Read more