Health Report - ABC RN

What do hyenas have to do with human health?

Hyenas and vultures play a role in driving down the risk of disease outbreaks, but their decline due to human behaviour is putting our health in danger. Also, we discuss Lifeblood's changes which bring down some of the barriers facing gay and bisexu…

Is it too easy to get a prescription for medicinal cannabis?

There are concerns people are getting their hands on medicinal cannabis to treat conditions where there's very little evidence of benefit — and the possibility of harm.  Also, why weight loss drugs could improve treatment for people with schizophren…

Exercise packs a punch in fending off cancer

Bringing clarity to health and medicA structured exercise program has increased survival in people with colon cancer after they've undergone surgery and chemotherapy.  Also, a common genetic variant could double the risk of dementia in men — if they…

Can you predict how smart a baby will be in adulthood?

Our cognitive ability changes throughout our lives, but what happens when we're young can determine our intelligence in adulthood — especially if we don't do anything to bolster it.   Also, NSW follows other states in allowing GPs and diagnose and t…

Deepfake scammers have stolen Norman’s voice

If you've come across ads of Norman pushing a product for you to buy — no you haven't.  These ads are actually deepfake scams using an AI Norman to sell unproven supplements.  Also, why a new Alzheimer's drug coming onto the market might not become…

Want to heal your gut? Here's the evidence

Gut health is more complicated than social media influencers might have you believe.  It can be impacted by diet, exercise, the medications you take, the colds you catch. And any one of these factors can lead to irritable bowel syndrome.  Also, an …

You don’t have to snore to have sleep apnea

It's a common sleep disorder that can have knock-on effects on your cardiovascular and overall metabolic health.  But sleep apnea doesn't always present how people think, especially in women.  Also, we take a look at Labor's health promises as they…

Left or right arm? The site of your booster vaccine matters

The immune system seems to respond faster, and better, when you get a booster vaccine in the same arm as your initial vaccine.  Also, your GP might miss something going wrong with your liver because of the way pathology labs report blood test result…

Would you trust AI to make a life or death decision?

When you can't make medical decisions for yourself, it's often the responsibility of a loved one, or sometimes a doctor who doesn't know you at all.  Some researchers are suggesting artificial intelligence could be trained to know your wishes and be…

Is misinformation fuelling our measles outbreaks?

In Australia, we've already seen more cases of measles this year than we saw during the whole of 2024.  It's believed misinformation is to blame, leading to vaccine hesitancy and exposing the community to a highly infectious virus.  Also, we take a…