July 23, 2025
A New Edition of European Journal of Human Genetics Is Now Available
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 33, no. 7, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
July 22, 2025
The Future Of Health Data In The Age Of AI
(Noema) – Sensitive data about your health used to be relatively safe and anonymous. AI is making it much easier for that information to be used against you in opaque ways. Within days of the diagnosis, I entered the inner … Read More
July 22, 2025
The Perverse Economics of Assisted Suicide
(New York Times) – In June, lawmakers in my native country, Britain, approved plans to legalize assisted suicide. If the bill becomes law, England and Wales will join more than a dozen countries and 11 U.S. states in permitting medically … Read More
July 22, 2025
Perspective: It’s time to hold the line against the culture of death
(Desert News) – Behind the veneer of “freedom of choice,” there is an ideology that distinguishes those “worthy of life” from those whose lives allegedly “aren’t worth living.” Whether it is communicated explicitly or only hinted at, the elderly and … Read More
July 22, 2025
The world is choking on screens. Just as this book foretold.
(Washington Post) – Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” at 40 is truer than ever. In Postman’s view, once television became the dominant cultural form, it didn’t just reshape entertainment, it reshaped everything. Politics, religion, education, journalism — all began … Read More
July 22, 2025
The pandemic aged our brains, whether we got Covid or not, study finds
(NBC News) – The stress of lockdowns, fear and social isolation appear to have left a mark on our brains. Experts say it may be possible to counteract the changes. Brain aging may have sped up during the pandemic, even … Read More
July 22, 2025
The World’s Richest Woman Has Opened a Medical School
(TIME) – On July 14, 48 students walked through the doors of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Ark. to become its inaugural class. Some came from neighboring cities, others from urban centers in Michigan and New … Read More
July 22, 2025
Cancer stole her voice. AI, curse words and children’s books saved it
(NPR) – While her doctors and insurance company saved her life, they showed little interest in saving her voice, she said. So she set out on her own to research and identify the artificial intelligence company that could. It used … Read More
July 22, 2025
First Hormone-Free Male Birth Control Pill Shown Safe in Early Human Trial
(Scientific American) – A hormone-free pill, called YCT-529, that temporarily stops sperm production by blocking a vitamin A metabolite has just concluded its first safety trial in humans, getting a step closer to increasing male contraceptive options When it comes … Read More
July 22, 2025
A genetic test could predict the odds of obesity, allowing for early interventions
(NBC News) – Scientists looked at the genes of millions of people to determine which ones are linked to obesity — and developed a way to screen people before age 5. Certain genetic variants can affect how a person’s body … Read More
July 22, 2025
First Pill for Postpartum Depression Shows Varied Real-World Results
(New York Times) – Clinical trials had found that the drug, zuranolone, marketed as Zurzuvae and taken daily for 14 days, can ease symptoms for some women in as little as three days, while general antidepressants can take weeks. For … Read More
July 22, 2025
Sarah Morlok Cotton, Quadruplet Who Knew Fame and Suffering, Dies at 95
(New York Times) – She was the last of four identical sisters who were a national sensation even before they began performing onstage. Offstage, they endured abuse and schizophrenia. Sarah Morlok Cotton, the last surviving member of a set of … Read More
July 22, 2025
AI Companies Have Stopped Warning You That Their Chatbots Aren’t Doctors
(MIT Technology Review) – AI companies have now mostly abandoned the once-standard practice of including medical disclaimers and warnings in response to health questions, new research has found. In fact, many leading AI models will now not only answer health … Read More
July 22, 2025
A cross between a nicotine pouch and an energy drink: What to know about caffeine pouches
(NBC News) – Teen-friendly promotion of the product is spreading on social media. Adding to the concerns is a caffeine pouch startup from a former Juul marketing executive. The use of caffeine pouches among teens is still relatively rare. But … Read More
July 22, 2025
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Is Haunting My Browser
(Wired) – Over the past few years, browser developers have integrated AI tools with middling success. Though, in recent weeks, the idea of a web browser enhanced by a baked-in generative AI chatbot has resurged with the release of OpenAI’s … Read More
July 22, 2025
Google DeepMind makes AI history with gold medal win at world’s toughest math competition
(Venture Beat) – Google DeepMind announced Monday that an advanced version of its Gemini artificial intelligence model has officially achieved gold medal-level performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad, solving five of six exceptionally difficult problems and earning recognition as the … Read More
July 21, 2025
He Had Dangerous Delusions. ChatGPT Admitted It Made Them Worse.
(Wall Street Journal) – OpenAI’s chatbot self-reported it blurred line between fantasy and reality with man on autism spectrum. ‘Stakes are higher’ for vulnerable people, firm says. Irwin was hospitalized twice in May for manic episodes. His mother dove into … Read More
July 21, 2025
Chronically Healthy, Chronically Ill
(Plough) – Living with a chronic illness, I’ve traveled between the kingdom of health and the kingdom of sickness. It was in Suleika Jaouad’s searing account of her battle with leukemia that I first encountered Susan Sontag’s words on health … Read More
July 21, 2025
A Push for More Organ Transplants Is Putting Donors at Risk
(New York Times) – People across the United States have endured rushed or premature attempts to remove their organs. Some were gasping, crying or showing other signs of life. That’s when the doctors discovered her heart was beating. She appeared … Read More
July 21, 2025
What I Went Through to Meet My Daughter
(The Free Press) – A thousand miles from New York City, the place I call home, there’s a clinic that vows to help women with ‘unexplained infertility.’ I traveled there last year, in my quest to become a mother. Revolutionary … Read More
July 21, 2025
A mushroom casket marks a first for ‘green burials’ in the US
(The Verge) – A biodegradable casket made from mushrooms is one way to limit waste. “I’m probably the only architect who created a final home,” Bob Hendrikx tells The Verge. Tombs and catacombs aside, Hendrikx might be the only one … Read More
July 21, 2025
Drugmaker refuses FDA request to pull gene therapy
(Axios) – An unusual public feud between the Food and Drug Administration and a maker of gene therapies for rare diseases could test the Trump administration’s willingness to pull certain approved drugs from the market over safety concerns. The big … Read More
July 21, 2025
Hospitals scoop up physician practices, driving prices up
(Axios) – Hospitals are steadily buying small physician practices and, in the process, driving up the price of care, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows. Why it matters: It’s the latest evidence of consolidation in health care … Read More
July 21, 2025
The Next Thing You Smell Could Ruin Your Life
(Wired) – Millions of people suffer debilitating reactions in the presence of certain scents and chemicals. One scientist has been struggling for decades to understand why—as she battles the condition herself. In 1997, Miller proposed a career-defining theory of how … Read More
July 21, 2025
There’s Neuralink—and There’s the Mind-Reading Company That Might Surpass It
(Wired) – Unlike Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface, Synchron’s doesn’t require open-skull surgery, and it has an OpenAI chatbot baked in. While Musk envisions a transhumanist fusion of mind and machine, Synchron is focused on meeting the immediate needs of people … Read More
