Ancient Plague Rewrites Disease History: Ancient DNA from Siberian hunter-gatherer graves has revealed what may be the earliest known plague outbreak, occurring around 5,500 years ago near Lake Baikal—roughly 4,000 years before the Justinian Plague. The Nature study analyzed teeth from children and adolescents buried at several cemeteries along the Angara River and found Yersinia pestis DNA in at least 18 of 46 young individuals. Researchers believe two outbreaks occurred about 300 years apart, likely beginning with zoonotic spillover from marmots before spreading among people. The findings challenge the idea that plague became dangerous only after agriculture created dense settlements and rodent-rich environments. Instead, the disease appears to have devastated small mobile groups much earlier, showing humans were never truly insulated from epidemic pathogens. (cidrap.umn.edu)

Russia Drills Deep for Endless Oil Theory: A Russian drilling project is reviving a long-disputed Soviet-era theory that oil can form deep inside Earth without organic matter. Saint Petersburg Mining University plans boreholes up to 8 kilometers deep in the Arctic Komi region, near the old Kola Superdeep Borehole, to test Russian drilling technology and search for evidence of abiogenic petroleum. Mainstream geochemists reject the idea, noting that significant oil deposits overwhelmingly show biological origins, even though some simple hydrocarbons can form inorganically. Critics see the project as politically useful for Russia, which is resisting the global shift away from fossil fuels and faces declining production in Komi. Questions also surround the project’s funding, licensing, and links to university rector Vladimir Litvinenko, a close Putin ally. (Science)

Flu Season Shows Drift but Vaccines Still Help: A new JAMA Network Open surveillance study finds the 2025–2026 U.S. flu season was moderately severe, shaped largely by antigenically drifted A(H3N2) viruses. Researchers analyzed national clinical and public health laboratory data, hospitalization surveillance, vaccine-effectiveness networks, antiviral susceptibility, and post-vaccination antibody responses. Most characterized A(H3N2) viruses belonged to subclade K, and antibody titers against that strain were lower than against the vaccine virus, suggesting some mismatch. Even so, existing tools still mattered: vaccines reduced medically attended flu and hospitalization risk, and circulating viruses remained susceptible to key antivirals. The study underscores why flu monitoring remains essential. Drift can weaken expectations for vaccine performance, but surveillance helps determine whether vaccines, antivirals, and public health messaging are still reducing the season’s burden. (JAMA)

Prone Positioning Falls Short in Infant Bronchiolitis Trial: A randomized JAMA clinical trial tested whether placing infants with acute viral bronchiolitis in a prone position could reduce escalation to noninvasive or invasive ventilation. The PROPOSITIS trial enrolled infants younger than six months who were receiving high-flow nasal cannula support at multiple French centers. Prone positioning has physiological appeal because it can improve ventilation mechanics in some respiratory illnesses, but the study’s primary intention-to-treat analysis did not show a statistically significant reduction in escalation of care compared with supine positioning. The result matters because bronchiolitis is one of the most common reasons infants are hospitalized, yet proven treatments remain limited. The trial suggests prone positioning should not be assumed beneficial without careful context, monitoring, and further evidence. (JAMA)

General AI Beats Specialist Medical Chatbots: A Nature Medicine study challenges the assumption that specialized clinical AI tools automatically outperform general-purpose large language models in medicine. Researchers compared OpenEvidence and UpToDate Expert AI with frontier models including GPT-5.2, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Claude Opus 4.6 across three tests: 500 MedQA questions, 500 HealthBench items, and 100 real de-identified physician queries reviewed blindly by 12 U.S. clinicians. The general-purpose models outperformed the specialized clinical tools in all three evaluations. The study also found that clinical AI tools performed similarly to Google Search AI Overview on real clinical queries. The authors argue the findings highlight the need for independent, real-world evaluation before hospitals, clinicians, or health systems rely on branded medical AI products. (Nature)

Food Preservatives Linked to Heart Risks: A new European Heart Journal study, summarized by ScienceDaily, links several common preservative food additives with higher risks of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The work comes from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort and was led by researchers affiliated with INSERM, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, and Université Paris Cité. The study examined additive exposure in regular diets, rather than focusing only on broad categories such as ultra-processed foods. Researchers found associations between eight preservatives and cardiovascular outcomes, adding detail to growing concerns about how specific ingredients may affect long-term health. The findings do not prove that the additives alone caused disease, but they strengthen the case for ingredient-level scrutiny in nutrition research, food labeling, and public health guidance. (Science Daily)

Exercise May Restore Muscle’s Cancer Defense: A Duke-NUS Medical School study reported by MedicalXpress suggests physical activity may help aging muscle recover signals that suppress tumor growth. Researchers found that sarcopenic muscle releases fewer extracellular vesicles, and that the vesicles it does release carry lower levels of miR-7a-5p, a microRNA involved in restraining tumor development. As muscle ages, this weakened communication may create conditions that favor cancer progression. Encouragingly, the study found that exercise can reactivate a pathway involved in vesicle release, potentially restoring some protective signaling. The work, published in Nature Communications, helps explain why maintaining muscle through resistance and aerobic activity could be important beyond mobility. The next step is validating whether these vesicles can serve as biomarkers in humans. (MedicaXpress)

Long COVID Tied to Higher Heart Disease Odds: CIDRAP reports that people with long COVID appear more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, based on an analysis of the 2022 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey published in Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology. Among 8,332 participants with a history of COVID-19, cardiovascular disease was more common in those reporting long COVID than in those without it. The adjusted analysis found long COVID associated with 37% higher odds of any cardiovascular diagnosis. Specific risks were elevated for angina and myocardial infarction, while associations with coronary heart disease and stroke were not statistically clear. The findings add to evidence that long COVID is not limited to fatigue or respiratory complaints. Researchers say more work is needed to improve prevention and care. (CIDRAP)

Robots Hunt Cancer Cells That Escape Treatment: Reuters highlights a Science Advances study showing how robotic platforms can speed the search for cancer cells that survive treatment. These rare “persister” cells may represent as few as one in a thousand tumor cells, but they can seed later recurrence. Working with lung cancer samples, researchers identified nearly 10,000 cellular variations linked to treatment escape. Testing all possibilities manually would have required thousands of week-long experiments, so the team built a robotic system using miniature tumor models in controlled incubators. Of 94 drugs tested, nine showed consistent activity against persister cells. The surprising result was that tumors from different patients shared vulnerabilities, suggesting future therapies may be more predictable than expected if screened at sufficient scale. (Reuters)

Healthcare Affordability Worries Hit New High: STAT reports that only about half of U.S. adults were considered both able to afford care and able to access quality care last year, according to the West Health-Gallup Affordability Index. The survey, conducted from October to December 2025 and released June 18, found that 49% of adults were “cost secure,” down from 56% when tracking began in 2021 and from 61% in 2022. About three-quarters of respondents said healthcare costs were at least a minor financial burden, and roughly half were concerned they would be unable to pay for needed care in 2026. The data landed before major recent policy changes fully took effect, making it an important baseline for tracking affordability stress. (STAT)

Protein Guidance May Be Too Minimal: A new review highlighted by EurekAlert argues that public health advice on protein and exercise may be too focused on avoiding deficiency rather than optimizing aging, strength, and independence. The paper, by Chris Macdonald of the Better Protein Institute and Lucy Cavendish College, reviews evidence linking regular physical activity to lower mortality, better mental health, stronger cognition, and greater resilience against age-related decline. It also argues that combining aerobic exercise with resistance training offers especially broad benefits. On protein, the review says current U.K. guidance is based largely on minimum needs for sedentary adults, while older adults, active people, pregnant women, and people pursuing fat loss may benefit from higher intakes. Plant-based diets can still fit this model. (EurekAlert)

Kidneys Reveal Backup Water-Saving System: Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a previously unknown kidney pathway that helps the body conserve water, according to ScienceDaily. Scientists long thought urine concentration depended mainly on vasopressin, the hormone central to water balance. The new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests the kidney has an additional vasopressin-independent mechanism. The discovery emerged unexpectedly while researchers were studying probenecid, an older drug, in the context of polycystic kidney disease. Rather than worsening the condition as expected, the drug slowed cyst growth, pointing investigators toward the hidden pathway. The finding could reshape understanding of kidney physiology and open new therapeutic ideas for PKD and other disorders involving water regulation, although clinical applications will require substantial follow-up research. (Science Daily)