The Conversation

AI agents: Here is what happened in 2025 and the challenges ahead in 2026

In 2025, AI agents shifted from theory to practice, redefining how humans collaborate with artificial intelligence across products and platforms

People are getting their news from AI - and it's altering their views

Studies show that large language models do more than simply pass along information. Their responses can subtly highlight certain viewpoints while minimizing others, often without users realizing it

Disrupted body clock could raise risk of dementia later in life: Study

Disrupted circadian rhythms are often associated with poor sleep. For decades, poor sleep has been suspected to contribute to both dementia and heart disease

Tumour vs cancer: What's the difference and why these terms confuse many

Misusing the words cancer and tumour can be confusing and misleading. This may be because the word "cancer" carries a stigma of sickness and death, even though many cancers have a good outlook

How short-form online videos may be harming children's developing minds

These apps feel lively and intimate, offering quick routes to humour, trends and connection, yet their design encourages long sessions of rapid scrolling that can be difficult for young users to manag

Dementia at 24: Britain's youngest sufferer donates brain to aid research

Dementia is usually associated with old age. However, some forms of dementia can strike astonishingly early and move frighteningly fast

Why outdoor exercise in winter raises risk of injury and how to stay safe

Prolonged exposure to cold and wet conditions can damage small blood vessels, reducing blood flow and impairing tissue and nerve function, coordination and reaction time, raising injury risk

How eggs can help you come off Wegovy, solve problem of weight regain

Eating eggs has been repeatedly shown to help people feel fuller for longer and eat less at later meals, including among people who are overweight or obese

What makes mountain birds sing at dawn and why are they sometimes quiet?

Many bird species take part in a dawn chorus. This is when the community of songbirds in a particular habitat sing intensively around sunrise

Five ways to improve your health in 2026 without focusing on weight loss

Many New Year resolutions focus on weight but long-term health is shaped by wider habits and small realistic steps can add up to meaningful health gains over the year

Music on the road: How it helps or hinders drivers, especially the young

Drivers listening to music tended to have more simulated collisions, poorer speed control and less stable following distances than those driving in silence

How forced displacement reshapes refugees' gut health and immunity

Studies show that refugees often have gut microbiomes that look different from those of people who have not experienced displacement

New study links high fat cheese and cream to lower dementia risk in adults

Consuming more than 20 grams of full-fat cream per day was linked to a 16 per cent-24 per cent lower risk of dementia overall

How testosterone went from prostate cancer villain to potential ally

The old belief that testosterone therapy increases prostate cancer or makes it worse is no longer backed up by modern research

Why the idea that your brain suddenly 'fully develops' at 25 is a myth

Like many myths, the "age 25" idea is rooted in real scientific findings, but it's an oversimplification of a much longer and more complex process

Why anti-immigration protesters in US are targeting English classes

From Scotland to England, English classes have become flashpoints in migration politics, as anti-immigration groups raise safety claims and push to defund ESOL programmes

Beyond being well: Teens and Gen Z redefine what it means to be healthy

A generation ago, friendship, beauty, community and dating mattered but weren't seen as "health". Today, these social and personal dimensions are increasingly viewed as integral to being healthy

Positive psychology experts ignore their own advice, mindset maybe the key

Study finds wellbeing experts rely less on scheduled activities and more on a flexible mindset that adapts to life's ups and downs, rather than intentionally "doing" prescribed positivity exercises

Why it's so hard to tell if a piece of text was written by AI - even for AI

The learned-detector approach can work even without knowing which AI tool generated the text, as long as the training data includes outputs from a wide range of AI systems

Why politics keeps complicating the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia

This comes less than two months after the Thai prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, and his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Manet, signed a peace deal