Meghan McCue

Science shows that exercise can improve symptoms of anxiety and depression in both the short and long term. (Getty/Unsplash+)

March 8, 2026

The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood

Meghan McCue, McMaster University

Exercise can be a powerful tool to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression. The amino acid tryptophan may be part of the reason why.

With cachexia, a patient loses a significant amount of weight due to their disease, with considerable losses of muscle mass. (Shutterstock)

January 4, 2024

For cancer patients, maintaining muscle is vital to health and treatment, but staying strong is complicated

Meghan McCue, McMaster University

Cachexia — significant loss of weight and muscle mass — has a massive impact on cancer outcomes and patient quality of life. The sooner it is detected, the better chance there is to manage it.

Our ancestors’ environment and diets, and the limits of our biology, have led to adaptations that have improved human survival through natural selection. But we remain prone to illness and disease anyway. (Shutterstock)

May 19, 2021

Evolutionary medicine looks to our early human ancestors for insight into conditions like diabetes

Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, Laurentian University; Eric Boivin, Laurentian University, and Meghan McCue, Laurentian University

Evolutionary medicine uses our ancestral history to explain disease prevalence and inform care for conditions like Type 2 diabetes. It also challenges the bio-ethnocentrism of western medicine.

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The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood

For cancer patients, maintaining muscle is vital to health and treatment, but staying strong is complicated

Evolutionary medicine looks to our early human ancestors for insight into conditions like diabetes

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