Collagen supplements typically come from animal sources like fish, pigs, or cattle

Collagen supplements have become a multibillion-dollar industry

Beginning in our 20s, the amount of this protein in our skin, muscles, and connective tissue declines. But independent, high-quality studies—like those that are double-blind—have not yet shown a significant association between their use and evidence of it improving skin elasticity, reducing wrinkles, or combating hair loss. Some collagen supplements do seem to help with joint pain and knee function, but NPR cautions that studies on that purpose are industry-funded.

No medical evidence suggests collagen drinks or supplements will improve your hair

Marketing claims that collagen supplements or drinks will make your hair shiny, thick, and improve hair growth are not backed by scientific evidence.

Learn what the best foods are to survive on a limited diet

The human body can naturally synthesize 11 of the 20 amino acids needed to build the critical proteins required for function, but the nine missing ones can all be obtained from white potatoes. A bit of oatmeal can provide the molybdenum needed to process sulfites from potatoes, while other key vitamins and nutrients can be acquired from avocados, berries, milk, beans, and spinach.

Supplements are only typically recommended for those with a proven deficiency

Blood tests and other dietary screening tools by clinicians and nutritionists can indicate whether someone is deficient in needed vitamins or minerals, and those results can then lead to a personalized care plan that may include supplements. Supplements can negatively interact with certain medications, so it's important to speak with your doctor about supplements before taking them.

Laser skin treatments can promote the production of collagen

Skin resurfacing vaporizes the top layer of skin to reveal healthier, new skin, while collagen can give the skin structure and elasticity. Such procedures treat scars and burns, but may leave light spots on the skin.

Animals' stomach lining produces cheese

Cheesemaking would be impossible without rennet, the enzyme that separates milk’s liquid and solid components. Rennet occurs naturally in the stomach lining of young goats, cows, and lambs to help them digest milk, a process that also allows cheesemakers to use it to make curds. Now we have plant-based rennet that comes from thistles, artichokes, and other similar plants.

Snake venoms are repurposed proteins responsible for other bodily functions

Just as saliva aids digestion in humans, proteins responsible for bioactivities such as digestion and blood clotting were eventually secreted in the glands and fangs of snakes across evolutionary history. Organisms that could not withstand the effects of these molecules (e.g., excessive bloodstream clotting) became ideal prey for snakes.

How healthy is lab-grown meat?

While meat-less meat options like Beyond and Impossible burgers are known for being the environmentally-friendly alternative to real meat, it’s important to also consider their impact on human health. Health benefits of these meat alternatives...

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157

The unapproved peptide—which has received glowing testimonials from bodybuilders, biohackers, popular podcasters, and some in the MAHA movement— is often sourced from China. It has been used for myriad conditions. But scientific questions about the substance abound, including whether it's truly a natural substance produced by the human body, since genetic material that codes for its unique amino acid sequence hasn't been found in the human genome or the gut microbiome. Other unknowns include how it works in the body, which receptors it targets, and its safety, since evidence beyond anecdotes remains scant in humans.

What constitutes a 'healthy' diet?

A natural diet, typically high in plant-based foods and low in processed foods, appears to be the main contributor to a healthy, diverse gut microbiome.

The term 'superfood' is a marketing construct with no scientific or medical definition

Encompassing at least 136 plants and animals, the concept has been criticized by nutritionists for its scientific value, which has been exploited by the wellness industry for profit. Although the label has encouraged the consumption of fruits and vegetables, food variety and minimal processing remain key to a healthy diet.

Adhesion molecules and intercellular junctions allow cells to connect together

While some organic structures are mostly composed of non-cellular components (e.g., collagen and calcium phosphate minerals in bones), tissues and organs composed of connected cells rely on specialized proteins and connections to create watertight seals that protect cells within the interior from environmental molecules.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Learn how colorectal cancer is linked to the American diet and chronic inflammation

A University of South Carolina colon cancer researcher offers insights from his own research and notes that more exercise, social support, and eating fruits, vegetables, legumes, and foods like fish and olive oil—often called the Mediterranean diet—are associated with better health—and could improve our colons.

What did it take to eat like a gladiator?

If you think gladiators were all rippling muscle, think again. Evidence suggests fighters weren't as cut as we've been led to believe. This article dives into the diets of ancient Roman gladiators, who may have eaten mostly vegetarian. Archaeological evidence gathered from the skeletons of 68 gladiators found in a 2,000-year-old Turkish grave suggests the fighters' diets mainly relied on barley and legumes, with little animal protein.

Bone marrow generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Some of our bones are stuffed to the brim with a fatty, jam-like substance called marrow. Bone marrow comes in yellow and red, with the latter responsible for producing new blood cells, and has become critical in treating diseases like leukemia.

The Chinese market for donkey hides has created a new source of diseases

Since 1992, China’s donkey population has dropped more than 80 percent. This report examines how China’s booming demand for a traditional medicine known as e-jiao, made from collagen from donkey hides, is leading to the slaughter of 6 million African donkeys annually, and providing a new source for zoonotic diseases.

Natural toxins produced on plants or consumed by animals may cause food poisoning

When humans eat plants with certain natural toxins on them—including a family of toxins called aflatoxins that fungi produce on crops like peanuts and corn— they can become ill with food poisoning. Toxins can still harm humans even if animals or plants appear fine to the human eye. The World Health Organization advises that we should throw away moldy or discolored foods, refrain from eating wild plants or mushrooms that aren’t definitively nonpoisonous, and remember that just because something is “natural” it’s not always safe to eat.

Watch a pro butcher turn half a pig into eight common meals

The variety of food derived from a pig is enormous—from the common hot dog to delicate capicola. Watch butcher John Ratliff transform this meat into the basis of some of the most well-known meals.

Pigments in paint can come from rocks, plants, insects or synthetic sources

Paint's composition is varied through the combination of pigments with binding agents. In the past, artists created their own paints by mixing pigments with water, oils or egg yolks to bind the colors together.

A first-of-its-kind clinical trial taps livers from gene-edited pigs to clean blood

The experimental dialysis-like treatment from United Therapeutics, eGenesis, and OrganOx, is designed to help people with liver failure. The therapy, which involves attaching the modified pig liver externally, filters a patient’s blood so their own livers can temporarily rest and perhaps heal.

USP-verified label on supplements means a nonprofit confirmed what's in the bottle

The black-and-yellow USP-verified program seal on a dietary supplement bottle means that the nonprofit US Pharmacopeia tested a sample of the product and verified that it was made in a facility with good manufacturing practices and that it will dissolve in the body. Their certification also means they tested to confirm that the product contains the ingredients listed on the bottle at the specified levels, and that it doesn't contain harmful levels of certain dangerous contaminants.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Large animals like giraffes and elephants have evolved unique cancer defenses

One may expect the larger an animal is, the more likely it is to develop cancer—simply because there are more cells and more chances for a dangerous mutation. However, some large animals show cancer rates almost 10 times lower than humans—a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox.

How chefs suspend liquid in edible pearls resembling caviar to introduce a new texture to fluids

Through spherification, drops of a solution of sodium alginate and a flavored liquid are placed in a calcium lactate solution, which forms a chemical skin around them. This is because calcium replaces the sodium in the alginate chains, forming a gel around each drop's liquid interior.

'Artificial embryos': The hidden steps in forming a spine

Somitogenesis is the process by which segmented body structures like vertebrae form in embryos. While the process is well understood in animals like mice or zebrafish it is difficult to study in humans. But now, researchers have created a model of somitogenesis, using pluripotent stem cells, called an axioloid.

Watch how proteins are created from DNA

When a DNA sequence—a gene—is activated, a copy of the activated portion is created in the form of RNA, a single-stranded version of DNA, in a process known as transcription. This RNA, called messenger RNA, leaves the nucleus and travels to a ribosome, a structure within a cell, which uses it to build a chain of organic compounds that fold into a protein.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.