Cancer researchers examining the use of artificial intelligence to detect early signs of breast cancer. Pediatricians tracking the long-term health of children born to mothers infected with the coronavirus during pregnancy. Scientists searching for links between diabetes and dementia. All these projects at Columbia University were paid for with federal research grants that were abruptly terminated following the Trump administration’s …
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These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home
For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells in the Americas, from the Southwestern United States to the Caribbean and parts of South America. So how could a handful of reptilian transplants have ended up on two islands in the South Pacific, over 4,970 miles away? “The question …
Read More »The Women Most Affected by Abortion Bans
Abortion bans successfully prevented some women from getting abortions in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to a detailed new study of birth data from 2023. The effects were most pronounced among women in certain groups — Black and Hispanic women, women without a college degree, and women living farthest from a clinic. …
Read More »Digital Therapists Get Stressed Too, Study Finds
Even chatbots get the blues. According to a new study, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT shows signs of anxiety when its users share “traumatic narratives” about crime, war or car accidents. And when chatbots get stressed out, they are less likely to be useful in therapeutic settings with people. The bot’s anxiety levels can be brought down, however, with the …
Read More »Dr. Sheldon Greenfield, Who Exposed Gaps in Health Care, Dies at 86
Dr. Sheldon Greenfield, whose pioneering research found that older patients with breast and pancreatic cancer got subpar treatment and that patients who grill their doctors during consultations receive better care, died on Feb. 26 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 86. The cause was colon cancer, his daughter Lauren Greenfield said. Dr. Greenfield was a founder and …
Read More »How Much Should Weight Loss Drugs Like Wegovy and Zepbound Cost?
It’s easy to make a medical case for blockbuster weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been shown to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives. But for the employers and government programs being asked to pay for the medications, the financial case for them is less clear. Are the drugs’ benefits worth their enormous cost? The …
Read More »Federal Cuts Prompt Johns Hopkins to Cut More Than 2,000 Workers
Johns Hopkins University, one of the country’s leading centers of scientific research, said on Thursday that it would eliminate more than 2,000 workers in the United States and abroad because of the Trump administration’s steep cuts, primarily to international aid programs. The layoffs, the most in the university’s history, will involve 247 domestic workers for the university, which is based …
Read More »Videos Show Narwhals Using Their Tusks to Play With Their Food
For an animal with an ivory appendage half the length of its body protruding from the top of its head, a narwhal moves in the water with surprising grace. “It’s almost mesmerizing,” said Greg O’Corry-Crowe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University who studies marine mammals. “The precision with which they wielded their tusks, it wasn’t like a broadsword. It …
Read More »SpaceX Launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions
Two NASA missions finally launched from the California coast and soared toward the stars late Tuesday night, overcoming a week of delays to get to orbit. Both aim to unravel mysteries about the universe — one by peering far from Earth, the other by looking closer to home. The rocket’s chief passenger is SPHEREx, a space telescope that will take …
Read More »Saturn Gains 128 New Moons, Bringing Its Total to 274
Astronomers say they have discovered more than 100 new moons around Saturn, possibly the result of cosmic smashups that left debris in the planet’s orbit as recently as 100 million years ago. The gas giant planets of our solar system have many moons, which are defined as objects that orbit around planets or other bodies that are not stars. Jupiter …
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