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Most dieters know the hard truth: Sticking to a weight loss regimen gets more difficult as the day wears on. But while those who give in to food cravings and binge at night may blame flagging willpower, a new study suggests the problem could lie in the complex orchestra of hormones that drive hunger and signal feelings of satiety, or fullness. (Rabin, 1/30)

It started with an itch after a stroll on a Caribbean beach, but in just a few days it had morphed into a gut-churning travel nightmare. In mid-January Eddie Zytner and Katie Stephens, a couple from Windsor, Ontario, went on a vacation to Punta Cana, a resort town on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. At some point, they assumed they had been bitten by bugs during one of their walks because their feet wouldn't stop itching. (Wootson, 1/30)

Student absences. Contagious colleagues at work. Time-draining hospital visits. Thousands of Americans nationwide are grappling with what officials say is turning out to be the worst flu season in nearly a decade. And New Yorkers are falling ill, too. On the third week of January, there were 7,779 confirmed influenza cases and 1,759 people hospitalized in New York, the highest weekly numbers since the state began reporting them in 2004, according to the New York State Department of Health. (Ferre-Sadurni, 1/30)

K-9s, felines . . . and peacocks. Airlines that have begun talking about tightening restrictions on a proliferating array of “emotional support” animals on commercial flights may have found their case bolstered this week after a picture of a peacock that was reportedly denied a seat aboard a United Airlines flight traveled far and wide. (Bever and Rosenberg, 1/30)