February 14, 2025
(New York Times) – Johnson County is seeking federal assistance, saying its farmland has become dangerously contaminated with “forever chemicals” from the use of fertilizer made from sewage sludge. A Texas county is taking steps to declare a state of … Read More
February 14, 2025
(Associated Press) – Haiti’s main public hospital, which remains shuttered after multiple gang attacks, was set on fire Thursday in the latest blow to one the country’s largest health institutions. The hospital’s general director, Dr. Prince Sonson Pierre, confirmed the fire … Read More
February 14, 2025
(Vox) – The more agency we give AI assistants, the scarier they get. The basic concept of an AI agent is simultaneously alluring and horrific. Who wouldn’t want an AI to handle mundane computer chores? But if the AI can … Read More
February 14, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Flu has been brutal this season. The CDC estimates at least 24 million illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations, and 13,000 deaths from the flu since the start of October. At the same time, the bird flu outbreak continues to infect … Read More
February 14, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Nothing sweeps us off our feet like a health policy valentine. Readers showed their love this season, writing poetic lines about surprise medical bills, bird flu, the cost of health care, and more. Here are some … Read More
February 14, 2025
(BBC) – A professor who specialises in steroid abuse has called for regional centres of excellence to tackle what he says is becoming a growing public health concern. There is no official data of how many people in the UK … Read More
February 14, 2025
(New York Times) – It is the first ruling in a case challenging “shield laws” intended to protect doctors in states that support abortion rights who send abortion pills to states with bans. In a case that could have major … Read More
February 14, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – As the electric-vehicle war in China calms down, leaving a few established players to dominate the field, Chinese EV giants are expanding into humanoid robotics. The shift is driven by financial necessity, but also by the advantages these … Read More
February 14, 2025
(The Walrus) – Singles—and their parents—are turning to algorithms for help with arranged marriages In India, marriage has long been the province of intelligence: the mind over the heart, sound reasoning exercised by the leadership of families to maintain their … Read More
February 14, 2025
(NBC News) – Apple and Google have made TikTok available on their U.S. app stores again, they said Thursday evening. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, disappeared from both stores in the United States on Jan. … Read More
February 13, 2025
(New York Times) – Three dairy veterinarians, including one who worked only in states with no known bird flu outbreaks in cows, had recent, undetected bird flu infections, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The … Read More
February 13, 2025
(Associated Press) – The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and he was then sworn in as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs … Read More
February 13, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Patients who contest denials face a daunting process, but many are successful. ‘This appeal saved my life.’ Health insurers process more than five billion payment claims annually, federal figures show. About 850 million are denied, according … Read More
February 13, 2025
(Politico) – The Colorado case underscores the broader struggle of states — many of which are facing budget shortfalls this year — that cover weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for state workers. Over the past three years, a growing … Read More
February 13, 2025
(The Verge) – Google will soon use machine learning to estimate the age of its users. In an update on Wednesday, Google said it’s testing a machine learning model in the US to help determine whether someone is under 18, allowing … Read More
February 13, 2025
(Comment) – Medical students enter the anatomy lab dreaming about “the art of medicine” but graduate residency bewildered because they can’t make sense of themselves as technicians in a profession that once claimed to be a kind of art. As … Read More
February 13, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Rodriguez and his wife, Maria Fernandez, who live in Miami, thought they would never hear his voice again. Then they re-created it using AI. After feeding old recordings of Rodriguez’s voice into a tool trained on … Read More
February 13, 2025
(CNBC) – Apple is deepening its investment in health-care research by launching a new, years long project called the Apple Health Study, the company announced Wednesday. The study will analyze how data from devices such as iPhones, AirPods and Apple … Read More
February 12, 2025
(CBS News) – The U.S. confirmed at least a dozen deaths from whooping cough last year, according to preliminary figures released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks the most fatalities from the bacterial infection … Read More
February 12, 2025
(Ars Technica) – An outbreak of measles in one of Texas’ least vaccinated counties continues to rapidly expand, with officials reporting 24 cases Tuesday, up from just nine confirmed on Friday. According to an update by the Texas Department of State Health Services … Read More
February 12, 2025
(The Verge) – OpenAI is releasing a significantly expanded version of its Model Spec, a document that defines how its AI models should behave — and is making it free for anyone to use or modify. The new 63-page specification, up … Read More
February 12, 2025
(NBC News) – Actor Scarlett Johansson is urging lawmakers to regulate the use of artificial intelligence after her likeness was used without her consent in a fake viral video that appears to show a handful of celebrities protesting the rapper … Read More
February 12, 2025
(Cincinnati Enquirer) – An Indiana family says Cincinnati Children’s won’t put their 12-year-old daughter on its heart transplant waiting list because of her vaccination status. Janeen Deal, who is related by marriage to Vice President JD Vance’s half-siblings, said the hospital requires her daughter … Read More
February 12, 2025
(Military.com) – Marine Corps drill instructors are a national symbol of discipline. But for some, their imposing persona belies a dark reality. Logan Sowell’s suicide in July 2021 is one of at least seven in the past five years involving … Read More
February 12, 2025
(Associated Press) – Ebola cases in Uganda have risen to nine, while 265 other people were being monitored under quarantine, health authorities said Tuesday. The nine include the first victim, a male nurse who died the day before the outbreak was … Read More