In September 2025, Diabetologia  published a comprehensive review titled “Pharmacological therapies for type 2 diabetes: future approaches”  by Clifford J. Bailey of Aston University. It is, on the surface, an impressive piece — a meticulous summary of every drug class, every molecule, and every new combination that promises better glycaemic control for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Yet buried in its introduction lies a quiet confession: “Despite at least nine differently acting cla

When the first GLP-1 receptor agonists arrived— liraglutide, semaglutide , and their cousins, terzepatide —they were hailed as miracles of modern medicine. They lowered blood sugar, curbed appetite, and delivered impressive weight loss. For millions of people with diabetes or obesity, they offered hope that had long been missing. But as real-world experience and clinical data accumulated, a quieter pattern began to emerge: muscle loss, fatigue, and metabolic slowdown . The ve

A Hidden Story Inside Fat Tissue When most people hear “ cholesterol, ” they think of heart disease. But in a remarkable 2025 study in Science Immunology  by Elkins et al., scientists uncovered a very different story—one in which cholesterol isn’t the villain, but the fuel that powers the immune system’s healing process . Their focus was on a special kind of immune cell called regulatory T cells (Tregs) . These peacekeepers live in many tissues, but a unique population reside

We often think of inflammation as something that happens in our joints or our gut. But new research shows that one of the first places it begins is inside the brain’s metabolic control center—the hypothalamus . A 2025 review in Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders  describes how this small but powerful brain region responds to metabolic overload with its own local stress signal—a subtle, persistent process called hypothalamic microinflammation . It’s the brain’s inter

A breakthrough paper from Princeton redefines how our bodies keep lactate—and energy itself—in check. In March 2025, researchers from Princeton, Penn, and ETH Zurich published a striking study in Cell Metabolism   titled “Lactate homeostasis is maintained through regulation of glycolysis and lipolysis.” Their goal was simple but profound: to understand how our bodies keep blood lactate—one of the busiest molecules in metabolism—within a narrow, safe range. We tend to associat

Most of us know that good sleep and enough water are important. But what if I told you that missing either of these basics doesn’t just make you feel tired or thirsty—it can actually age your body and brain faster ? Two new studies shed light on this hidden cost, and together they reveal something deeper about how our bodies adapt to stress. The Sleep Study: Restless Nights, Older Brains A large study of over 27,000 adults from the UK Biobank  found that people with poor slee

How much energy can a human truly sustain? Not for a sprint, not for a day—but for months on end? A new study published in Current Biology  (Best et al., 2025) finally puts numbers on this question, revealing what might be called the bioenergetic speed limit  of human endurance. And surprisingly, it’s not our muscles that set the limit—it’s our metabolism’s rhythm. What the researchers did Fourteen elite ultra-endurance athletes—ultramarathoners, triathletes, and a long-dista

In 2021, scientists proposed a bold idea: that many chronic diseases may not start with a single nutrient deficiency or genetic flaw, but with a loss of metabolic rhythm  — what they called “disrupted metabolic tempo.” Our metabolism, like an orchestra, depends on timing. Catabolic and anabolic processes must alternate in rhythm — breaking down, rebuilding, resting, and repeating. When this rhythm falters, the mitochondria — our cellular power plants — face a kind of traffic

Imagine your body as a living economy. Every cell is a citizen drawing from a shared pool of energy, nutrients, and oxygen. When resources are scarce, the system must decide: which cells are worth the investment? Nature has already solved this problem through a remarkable process known as cell competition —a quality-control mechanism that ensures tissues remain efficient, adaptive, and resilient. A recent review by Jules Lavalou and colleagues  in Current Opinion in Cell Biol

In a new Nature Metabolism  perspective, neuroscientist Mark P. Mattson  of Johns Hopkins University proposes the Cyclic Metabolic Switching (CMS)  theory of intermittent fasting . His thesis is elegant in its simplicity: The real power of fasting lies not in calorie reduction, but in the rhythmic switching between metabolic stress and recovery. Just as muscles grow stronger when we alternate effort and rest, our cells gain resilience when they regularly cycle between energy

A new perspective from neuroscience is reshaping how we understand stress and mental illness — not as a chemical imbalance , but as an energetic imbalance . A recent paper in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews   by Kelley and colleagues (2025) introduces the Allostatic Triage Model of Psychopathology (ATP)  — a unifying theory that sees the brain as an energy-allocating organ. Under stress, it must decide which functions get powered and which are temporarily “dimmed” to con

🧪 A Groundbreaking Study That Deserves Attention A recent human study published in JCI Insight  (Ryan et al., 2024) has revealed something quietly unsettling: high-dose atorvastatin — one of the most commonly prescribed statins in the world — progressively impairs mitochondrial function  in skeletal muscle, even in healthy adults. Over just 56 days of 80 mg atorvastatin therapy, the researchers observed: A >30% decline in mitochondrial respiratory capacity  in muscle biopsie

Our immune system is brilliant at responding to threats. When infection or injury strikes, immune cells spring into action—mobilizing energy, nutrients, and molecular machinery to protect us. But even the strongest defense system has limits. What happens when the immune system stays “switched on” for too long? A new study published in JCI Insight  by Amir Yousif and colleagues (2025)  offers a clear answer. Using an advanced lab model, the researchers showed how prolonged im

Every living cell is powered by a complex network of reactions that turn nutrients into usable energy. In their recent paper, Energy Metabolism in Health and Diseases , Liu and colleagues deliver an impressive tour through this landscape—showing how energy pathways such as glycolysis, fatty-acid oxidation, and mitochondrial respiration underpin health and, when disrupted, drive disease. The review’s strength lies in its mechanistic depth . It traces how mitochondrial damage,

We often think of mitochondria as tiny “powerhouses” that churn out energy. But recent research shows they’re far more than miniature batteries — they are decision-making hubs that control how the body responds to stress, how it ages, and whether it ultimately repairs or unravels. Two new scientific papers bring this idea into sharp focus. One, published in Aging , examined the proteins inside mitochondria that determine when a cell remains resilient or slips into senescenc

A new review in eLife  by Gres et al. (2025) , “Trained Immunity in Skin Infections: Macrophages and Beyond,”  offers a fascinating...

In 2025, Martin Picard and Ramaswamy Murugan published a groundbreaking perspective in Cell Metabolism  introducing the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP) . They proposed that life itself is a process of energy transformation through resistance —a delicate balance between energy potential, flow, and constraint. Inside every cell, electrons move from food to oxygen through the mitochondrial respiratory chain, driving ATP production. But this flow is never free: mitochondria i

When we think of the immune system, most of us picture an army: white blood cells attacking viruses, antibodies neutralizing invaders,...

For more than a century, scientists have been fascinated by the microbes in our gut. In the early 1900s, Nobel laureate Elie Metchnikoff ...

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology  (Kashi et al., 2025) has uncovered something many of us overlook: how much...