A video of 62-year-old Chinese actor Liu Jinshan being treated at a traditional medicine clinic has gone viral, sparking reflection on his three-decade career and the pressures of raising a young daughter late in life.
A 34-year-old stand-up comedian died after an infection following tonsil removal surgery, prompting doctors to explain the real risks of an operation many consider routine. The case has focused attention on consent, post-operative warning signs and the limits of calling any surgery small.
Tech giants are piling into pharmaceuticals, betting that AI can shorten drug discovery and cut failure rates. The question is how much of that promise is real and how much is a familiar boom.
A popular explainer asks whether the bitter well water of ancient Chinese cities was anything like today's tap water. The answer hinges on how much of modern public health is really plumbing, chemistry and a long list of tests.
A 32-year-old biology doctoral candidate in the United States is accused of lacing a colleague's coffee with acrylamide, a common Western blot reagent that attacks nerves. The case has put an ordinary lab chemical under scrutiny and raised questions about how labs track the substances on their shelves.
About 23 million Chinese children are estimated to live with attention problems, yet only around 3 percent ever reach treatment. Doctors say the barrier is rarely diagnosis itself but parents who ask whether it will simply pass.
Chinese researchers combined glowing molecules with a two-dimensional material to build a responsive hydrogel that triggers a controlled form of cell death in choroidal melanoma, a rare cancer inside the eye. The work is early-stage lab science, but it shows how materials chemistry is being aimed at hard-to-treat tumors.
A Chinese essayist describes how Alzheimer's disease takes a parent long before death, leaving families to mourn someone who still sits at the table. The piece, published on a mass-market reading platform, gives a name to a loss Chinese families rarely discuss openly.
A team at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has built a smartphone-linked test strip that screens produce for 6 to 36 pesticide residues in 5 to 15 minutes, replacing days of lab work. The system is designed for farmers, markets and inspectors rather than laboratories.
A Chinese team has run the world's first human trial of chemogenetic neuromodulation, pairing gene therapy with a small-molecule drug so doctors can dial nerve activity up or down. The results appeared in a major medical journal, with outside reviewers calling the adjustable dose the key advance.
A Zhihu explainer traces the disappearance of the intramuscular penicillin injection that once greeted nearly every sick child in Chinese county clinics, arguing that better drug formulations and modern medical infrastructure, not nostalgia, retired it.
Lu Jing, once one of China's most recognized news anchors, left television at her peak in 1990 and later became a broadcasting teacher. Her marriage to an orthopedic surgeon and her father's medical legacy give the story its unusual shape.
In a rare interview on a medical program, actor Hu Ge pulled out a bottle of rapid-relief heart pills and said he carries a defibrillator whenever he travels. The admission has turned a private health habit into a public talking point about middle-aged stars and sudden cardiac risk.
A Chinese commentator argues that China's next big economic lever is not new construction but retrofitting what is already built: factories that need more power and logistics, communities short of elder care and childcare, and offices sitting empty while firms hunt for space.
A viral joke about a clinic sign banning chatbot-diagnosed patients has exposed real friction between Chinese doctors and people who consult AI tools like Doubao before visiting a hospital.
A Chinese forum post timed to World Male Health Day on October 28 describes the pressure men feel to keep going at work and at home. It argues that more than half of men over 40 experience erectile dysfunction, yet few talk about it.
Novelist Jiang Fangzhou published a birthday essay from a hospital ward, saying a year of illness and difficulty taught her more than usual. The piece, her first in 107 days, draws on Confucius to argue that hard-won insight matters most.
A widely shared Chinese explainer argues that moving to the sea would not have rescued the ancient poor, because a diet of lean fish alone can trigger what explorers called rabbit starvation. The answer turns on fat, not food supply, and it opens a window into how Chinese readers consume everyday science.
A new study challenges the idea that more cellular self-cleaning is always better, finding that autophagy can tip from protective to harmful as cells age. Exercise, the researchers suggest, may help restore a younger balance.
New research from Caltech shows bacteria survive phage attacks not by fighting alone but through collective chemotaxis, moving as a group to outrun viruses that outnumber them. The finding reframes how microbial populations persist in soil, water and the human body.
Hip fractures, often called the last fracture of a person's life, make up roughly 24% of all fractures and carry severe risks for older adults. With global cases projected to reach 6.3 million by 2050, prevention and care for aging populations are under growing scrutiny.
A Chinese science explainer tackles the viral claim that rocks picked up on holiday carry dangerous radiation. Most common stones are safe to keep, though a few minerals and old industrial sites deserve caution.
Ant Group's health assistant Afu sponsored the medical season of China's hit reality show An Exciting Offer, timed to a global recruitment drive for doctors to train medical AI. The pairing backfired as viewers questioned whether a brand was using young doctors' struggles to sell a chatbot.
A viral supplement brand selling itself as premium New Zealand anti-aging science has come under scrutiny, reviving a familiar Chinese argument that the health-product aisle runs on marketing rather than evidence. A subscription service promising a personal nutrition manager is pitching itself as the fix.
Researchers at the University of Exeter have produced the first characterization of an 'average' human genome, drawing on nearly one million people. They say genetic features alone can flag disease risk regardless of current health.
A Chinese app once called 'Died Yet?' has rebranded as 'Are You There?' and now sells to local governments at 99 or 199 yuan per elderly user per year, so solo-living seniors pay nothing. The pricing has split opinion online.
OpenAI, PerturbAI and Scripps Research deployed thousands of AI agents to analyse millions of mouse brain cells, finishing in 32 minutes what human researchers estimate could take months to a year.
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany fainted during a training-ground day after months of sleeping very little, and the club has told him to stop working entirely until he recovers. The episode puts elite football's workload culture under fresh scrutiny.
Frost's Descent, the last solar term of autumn, arrives on October 23, prompting Chinese social media to fill with warm greetings about health, luck and family. The seasonal ritual reveals how traditional calendars still shape everyday culture.
A Korean-made injectable derived from donated human skin is being marketed in China as a premium anti-aging treatment, with experts calling it a waste of scarce medical material. The controversy raises hard questions about how far cosmetic medicine should go.
Liang Yi, a former Hunan TV host paralysed for 22 years, has publicly sought a husband with one stated requirement: someone who can push her wheelchair. The phrase hides a round-the-clock care burden few suitors have been willing to take on.
A viral social-media term, 'thin muscle,' describes a body that is lean and toned without being bulky. Chinese wellness culture is now chasing this middle ground between skinny and shredded.
A personal essay on finally getting an ADHD diagnosis in China reveals a fragmented treatment path, from scarce medication to months-long waits. It reflects a broader rise in adult attention disorder awareness and the strain on specialist care.
England counted about 2,124 heat-related deaths in a single June week, while France recorded nearly 8,000 excess deaths across three summer heat waves. Scientists say the health cost of extreme heat is now measurable, unevenly distributed and worsening.
A 35-year-old woman in Zhejiang broke a rib sneezing, and a Jiangsu woman fractured five ribs when her husband hugged her. Both drank coffee daily, avoided the sun and ate little — a reminder that bone health is built young.
A wave of Chinese self-help essays argues that cutting back — fewer clothes, fewer friends, less food — is the surest route to a good life. The genre trades luck and feng shui for daily discipline.
A wave of viral essays on Chinese media asks why ordinary lives feel like failure, and urges readers to stop comparing themselves with the polished lives on their phones. The genre blends folk wisdom and confession — and it is drawing huge audiences.
Chinese researchers have built the world's lightest wireless mesoscope, a one-gram device that records thousands of neurons in a mouse's brain at single-cell resolution. The work, published in Nature, could reshape how labs study the neural basis of behavior.
A 44-country study of 3,570 children aged 3–4 found a median of 18,542 daily steps, far above many adults. Rural and low-income kids walked most, and boys generally outwalked girls.
A viral history thread on Zhihu asks which minor modern ailments were once death sentences. The answer: everyday skin infections like cellulitis, known in old China as 'yong ju,' killed with terrifying speed before antibiotics and clean surgery.
