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Scientists may be edging closer to unearthing a fountain of youth, announcing Thursday that they have developed a new model to explain how aging works — and how it might be reversed. (Weisman, 1/12)

In Boston labs, old, blind mice have regained their eyesight, developed smarter, younger brains and built healthier muscle and kidney tissue. On the flip side, young mice have prematurely aged, with devastating results to nearly every tissue in their bodies. The experiments show aging is a reversible process, capable of being driven “forwards and backwards at will,” said anti-aging expert David Sinclair, a professor of genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and codirector of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research. (LaMotte, 1/12)

Legalization of recreational cannabis may contribute to increased rates of teen and childhood asthma, new research suggests. Investigators compared asthma rates in states with recreational programs with rates in states where the substance was illegal from 2011 through 2019. Although the overall incidence of childhood asthma decreased within this time frame, the prevalence of asthma increased slightly among teens aged 12 to 17, and among children in some minority racial and ethnic groups in states with recreational use laws, relative to states where cannabis is fully illegal.  (Melillo, 1/12)

Children seen at one of the St. Louis region’s busiest pediatric hospitals suffered a significant increase in firearm injuries and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study by the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. (Munz, 1/12)

A small new study—this one analyzing antibodies in infants' stool samples—provides further evidence that the breast milk of women vaccinated against COVID-19 may help protect babies who are too young to receive the vaccine, according to findings published today in the Journal of Perinatology. (Wappes, 1/12)

A study finds that paying people to take a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine didn't lower the likelihood of seeking the second or third dose or of other positive health behaviors and didn't erode morals, sense of civic duty, or feelings of self-determination. (Van Beusekom, 1/12)

A large study published yesterday in BMJ concludes that long-COVID symptoms in patients who had mild infections resolved within a year, but some physicians say the research design was flawed, and the findings don't match their clinical experiences, could provide false assurance, and may have unintended consequences for those with persistent symptoms. (Van Beusekom, 1/12)