How to reset your gut in 30 days, according to a gastroenterologist
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You’ve probably spent more time than you’d like to admit wondering if something is off with your gut. Not dramatically wrong, just persistently uncomfortable. Bloated after meals for no clear reason. Sluggish in the morning. The kind of thing you chalk up Read More...
HPV vaccine brings cervical cancer deaths to near zero
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Between 2020 and 2024, not one woman between the ages of 20 and 24 in England died from cervical cancer. It was the first five-year window on record where that age group saw zero deaths, and a new study published in The Lancet now explains why: the HPV Read More...
How parents' phone habits shape their children's, according to new research
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For years, the conversation about children and screens has been aimed squarely at children. How much time, what content, and at what age? Sweden's public health agency has now turned the question around. This past Monday, the agency issued new guidelines Read More...
Why hamsters run on wheels, according to 30 years of research
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 2014, researchers placed exercise wheels in two natural outdoor settings and left them there. Wild mice found the wheels and ran on them, sometimes for up to 18 minutes at a stretch, with no training and no food reward. The running continued long after all Read More...
Zebra striping can cut hangovers, with one important catch
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Zebra striping, the practice of alternating each alcoholic drink with a non-alcoholic one, is catching on: 34 percent of UK adults reported trying it in 2025. The strategy does help. Just not quite in the way people think it does. The actual mechanism: total Read More...
A daily pill just doubled survival time for advanced pancreatic cancer
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a 500-patient trial at American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, a daily pill called daraxonrasib doubled average survival time in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Those on the drug lived for an average of 13.2 Read More...
A new drug just cleared hepatitis B in 1 in 5 patients
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A clinical trial published May 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that a new drug called bepirovirsen achieved a functional cure in approximately one in five patients with chronic hepatitis B. That number matters. The current standard of Read More...
The protein-stacking strategy that works on any meal or snack
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If you’ve been trying to eat more protein lately, you’re not alone. Research on its role in preserving muscle and brain health as people age has gotten a lot of attention, and most people who set a daily target quickly realize that one chicken breast at Read More...
Two drug molecules achieve myelin repair in MS disease models
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Every remyelination drug candidate tested in multiple sclerosis research has failed. A doctoral thesis from the University of Helsinki, defended earlier this month, reports two that didn’t. Tapani Koppinen, working in Associate Professor Merja Read More...
California sends newborns home with a month of free diapers
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM New babies go through eight to ten diapers a day, and diapers run about $100 a month. For families already stretched, that bill arrives before they’ve slept. Some parents leave diapers on too long or reuse disposables, which leads to rashes and infections. Read More...