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One cold morning in Baltimore last October, a 26-year-old named Alexander Laurenson strode into a small white room to have his arm preyed upon by mosquitoes. As requested, he had not showered the night before to make his skin more attractive to the pests, which are drawn to body odor. The mosquitoes, for their part, had been infected with malaria, a disease that kills over 600,000 people every year. Mr. Laurenson was part of a study to test the effectiveness of a new monoclonal antibody designed to prevent malaria transmission. (Crane, 1/28)

A diagnosis is more than words on a page. It’s everything that comes with it: the doctor’s tone of voice, a gentle touch of the hand, the pauses left so the patient can digest the news. All of these details subtly impart how you should think about the label that you’ve just been given. But one diagnostic word in particular threatens to derail any rational discussion of its meaning: cancer. (Gross, 1/28)

Over a decade ago, a smattering of studies suggested that early cousins of drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro could prevent, or even reverse, signs of Alzheimer’s disease in mice. Now, as the next generation of these medications has soared in popularity, and scientists discover they may have wide-ranging health benefits, research is revving up to investigate whether the drugs that upended diabetes and obesity care could also revolutionize Alzheimer’s treatment. Emerging evidence seems encouraging — but questions and caveats abound. (Smith and Blum, 1/31)

Tucked away in a tangle of streets around Rome’s Termini station is a clinic that sharply contrasts with the hardline, anti-migrant stance of Italian politicians. The Samifo Centre is described by the people behind it as Europe’s – and perhaps the world’s – only publicly funded service aimed at treating post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma among asylum seekers and refugees. (Kassam, 1/27)

White fur, blubbery skin, sharp claws. Polar bears seem perfectly adapted to their frigid habitat up north. Now, researchers have discovered the bears have another unexpected Arctic adaptation: greasy fur. It’s a trait that, surprisingly, might help us find alternatives to “forever chemicals,” a class of widely used compounds that are linked to a range of health problems in people. ... By re-creating the bears’ ability to resist icing, researchers hope to develop healthier alternatives to these toxic chemicals. (Grandoni, 1/29)