The Smurf-Hued Health Trend
A century-old dye is having a very blue moment. In a Morning Edition report, NPR examined the surge of wellness claims around methylene blue—a compound first used in the 1870s as a textile dye and now FDA-approved only for treating methemoglobinemia, a rare blood disorder. Online, however, biohackers tout it as a mitochondrial booster promising sharper cognition, better mood, slower aging, and even jet lag relief. Lab and animal studies suggest methylene blue can help stressed mitochondria move electrons more efficiently and may reduce inflammation and protect brain cells, according to researchers at the University of South Carolina and elsewhere. Human data are far thinner, limited to small, preliminary trials in select populations showing possible antidepressant or cognitive effects. Clinicians interviewed by NPR cautioned that risks—including serotonin toxicity in people taking SSRIs, danger for those with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and poor supplement oversight—currently outweigh the benefits. Bottom line: intriguing science, lots of hype, and talk to a clinician before turning your tongue blue.
Source: NPR
Chatbots: Loneliness Friend or Foe?
In a timely BMJ feature, clinicians weighed whether AI chatbots are soothing companions or stealth contributors to the growing loneliness crisis—and the answer, predictably, was that it’s complicated. In 2023, loneliness was framed as a serious public health issue, on par with smoking and obesity, by the US Surgeon General. US data linked it to a 26% increase in premature mortality and health effects comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes daily; in the UK, nearly half of adults reported feeling lonely, and about 1 in 10 described chronic loneliness. With long waits for mental health care, it’s no surprise that general-purpose chatbots—used weekly by roughly 810 million people worldwide—are increasingly used for emotional support, including by children. Trials of AI chatbots designed as digital therapeutics showed reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress, but real-world use painted a messier picture. In a 4-week study of 981 users conducted by an academic–industry collaboration, heavier chatbot use was linked with greater loneliness and less socializing, particularly among users who viewed the chatbot as a “friend.” Clinicians were encouraged to screen for problematic chatbot use while keeping the goal clear: AI should support human connection, not replace it.
Source: BMJ
Feeding the Brain to Reduce Pain, Literally
What if a grocery list could double as migraine medicine? At the 2025 Society for Neuroscience meeting, researchers from Georgetown University reported that a one-month low-glutamate diet was linked to both fewer migraine symptoms and thicker visual cortex regions in veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI), a chronic condition affecting about one in four veterans of the 1990–1991 Gulf War. In a cross-sectional analysis of 116 adults, veterans with GWI were significantly more likely to report migraines than healthy controls and showed thicker right visual cortex (V3) on MRI. A pilot dietary intervention then followed 40 veterans with GWI, with usable pre- and post-diet scans in 30 participants. After just one month on the low-glutamate diet, cortical thickness decreased in both left and right visual cortices (V2), and improvements in headache symptoms closely tracked these structural changes. The findings add weight to theories implicating glutamatergic excitotoxicity and neuroinflammation in both migraine and GWI, and they hint that dietary strategies may help quiet an overexcited visual cortex;larger trials are underway.
Source: Neuroscience
Coffee or Tea? For Bones
In a 10-year analysis from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, investigators followed 9,704 women aged 65 years or older (24,638 observations) to see whether daily coffee or tea habits nudged bone mineral density (BMD) over time. Turns out tea emerged as the quiet overachiever, showing a small but statistically significant association with higher total hip BMD at the primary endpoint. Coffee, meanwhile, was mostly bone-neutral—until intake climbed past five cups per day, where spline analyses suggested a potential dip in BMD. Context mattered: higher alcohol intake seemed to worsen coffee’s relationship with femoral neck BMD, while tea looked most beneficial among women with obesity. The BMD differences were modest and unlikely to change individual care, but the takeaway is refreshingly simple—moderate coffee appears safe for bones, tea may give hips a gentle assist, and extreme caffeine devotion should probably come with a calcium side eye.
Source: Study of Osteoporotic Fractures
The Flu That Doesn’t Sweat
Turns out fever may be one of the body’s oldest—and sassiest—antiviral tricks, unless the flu virus already knows how to handle the heat. In a Science study from a UK–based research group, investigators showed that elevated body temperature alone can sharply limit influenza A severity in mammals. Human-adapted influenza strains prefer cooler airway temperatures around 33° to 37 °C and replicate poorly at febrile levels, while avian influenza viruses are built for life at 40° to 42 °C. Using genetically matched viruses that differed only in the PB1 polymerase subunit, the team found that avian-origin PB1 allowed efficient viral replication at 40 °C in cell culture and in mice. When mice experienced a fever-like rise of about 2 °C, disease from the human-origin virus became mild, but an “avianized” PB1 mutant still caused severe illness. Pandemic strains from 1918, 1957, and 1968 also carried avian PB1 segments, linking heat tolerance to virulence. The takeaway: fever works—but some flu strains don’t sweat it.
Source: Science
The intersection of medicine and the unexpected reminds us how wild, weird, and wonderful science can be. The world of health care continues to surprise and astonish.
