Health

A new online service had to pause applications for abortion pills after being overwhelmed by demand. While some medical groups have expressed concern over the lack of face-to-face consultations, recent international research suggests that telemedicine for early pregnancy termination is just as safe as traditional clinic visits.

Finland leads the 2026 World Happiness Report for the ninth year, but the Netherlands slips to seventh place amid the toll of social media on youth well-being. Teens averaging more than 2.5 hours daily on platforms like Instagram and TikTok report plummeting life satisfaction, especially among girls, while moderate users thrive. In Brainport Eindhoven, expat families and tech hubs face heightened risks, spurring calls for EU-wide bans on age 15, digital detoxes, and real-world bonds.

A new study has found that artificial sweeteners like stevia and sucralose trigger more intense brain activity than regular sugar, even when they taste identical. Researchers using EEG technology discovered that the brain distinguishes between natural sugar and substitutes at a neural level. This discovery may help explain why "sugar-free" alternatives often fail to satisfy cravings in the same way as the real thing.