From self-love, to disordered behaviour, and back again, how our perceptions of masturbation have changed over the course of history and why it's still linked to shame and confusion for some. Also — why do humans (and other animals) masturbate in the first place?

Why has it taken science so long to take it seriously?

A new study published Tuesday in Cell Reports Medicine reveals that bowel movement frequency significantly influences physiology and long-term health, with the best outcomes linked with passing stools once or twice a day.

An inescapable form of human pollution is seeping into our bodies in ways we never fully realized.

Human culture has changed too fast for evolution to keep up. A theory that can help explain why we respond poorly to modern conditions, despite the choices, safety and other benefits they bring, is evolutionary mismatch.

Psychiatrists are at long last starting to connect the dots

Today, more than 97% of the national population has PFAS in their bodies, according to the CDC

Centenarians, once considered rare, have become commonplace.

The war against abortion rights, sex ed and more may unravel decades of progress

There are myths about the whole world inside your gut, made up of mostly harmless and often helpful microbes that reside in the gastrointestinal tract.

A meta-analytic review of previous studies indicates that obese individuals have an increased risk of depression and that this relationship isn't just correlational -- obesity might be one of the causes of depression. The researchers argue that the increased occurrence of depression in the population in recent decades might be at least partly due to the increase in obesity. The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. ...

Humans have invisible skin patterns, due to a quirk in how our enveloping layer forms.

Retired naval officer Joseph Dituri has spent more than three months living inside a 100sqft pod in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to research the effects of pressurised environements on the human body

Australian researchers have made a major leap forward, paving the way for the treatment of endometriosis, which could rapidly change health outcomes for women.

Not all surgical incisions are the same.

The next time you whisper sweet-nothings into someone's ear, you might want to target their left side.

But one of those "guesstimates" has gone on to become the most cited piece of vaping misinformation globally: e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. The problem is, it's wrong.

The average penis length worldwide has increased by 25 percent in recent decades — and the scientists who discovered this apparent growth spurt say it might not be a good thing. In a paper published on Valentine's Day in the World's Journal of Men's Health, Stanford researchers observed that per their meta-analysis of decades of studies, the length of erect penises has increased 24 percent — from 4.8 inches to about six — over the past roughly 30 years, even as testosterone levels and sperm quality have declined.