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Students gain hands-on research skills during ASSURE summer science program
Liberty University’s ASSURE program, an annual six-week summer intensive through the School of Health Sciences’ Department of Biology & Chemistry, concluded last month with its largest participation yet, with 36 students gaining research experience under the supervision of 16 faculty members....
Why a case pivotal to the anti-vax movement could end up at the Supreme Court
The legal argument that vaccine mandates without a religious exemption violate the First Amendment could deliver the anti-vaccine movement its biggest win.
Scientists React to the Lab-Made, Yet Lifelike, SpudCell
This cell-like structure can grow, feed, divide and compete. Researchers ponder what it means for the future of synthetic biology and our definition of “life.”
Cardiologist Manesh Patel named new American Heart Association president
Patel, a veteran interventional cardiologist with Duke Health, was named the group's Physician of the Year in 2023.
Augusta Popeyes briefly closed for health code violations
The restaurant, which opened in May on Western Avenue, was permitted to reopen on Saturday after it was closed a day earlier.
Texas Supreme Court Requests Briefing on Kemah Entertainment District Street Closure Case
Plaintiffs say the city violated state law in closing the street.
UN panel warns AI is outpacing scientific understanding, government policy
AI is already being used to generate misinformation and other harmful content and could be exploited for fraud, cyberattacks and biological threats.
ASU scientists unveil new methods to extract reliable truth from imperfect data
Scientists at Arizona State University are advancing how they interpret complex, imperfect data — challenging long-standing assumptions in fields ranging from imaging to cellular biology. In two papers published in Nature Communications and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team introduces fundamentally new approaches to solving “inverse problems,” where researchers work backward from noisy observations to uncover the underlying reality.
Study Reveals Biology Underlying Oral Health Issues in Down Syndrome
Low saliva from calcium signaling dysfunction, microbiome changes may contribute to high rates of gum disease
SpudCell: Scientists Made a Cell With Most of the Hallmarks of Life. Here’s What to Know.
From why it was created to whether it’s alive, here’s what to know about SpudCell, the latest advance in synthetic biology.
The Supreme Court’s trans sports ban ruling is about exclusion, not safety, advocates say
The Supreme Court can't stop using biological arguments to advance bigotry. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices sided in favor of state laws that ban transgender athletes from women's sports teams, citing unfair competition and physical danger.
Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time
Scientists say they have built a cell from scratch for the first time that feeds, grows and replicates like a natural cell, a breakthrough in synthetic biology.
Anthropic launches Claude Science AI workbench for researchers
Claude Science connects more than 60 databases and tools in one environment, running on existing Claude models with no specialized biology training
Lightfoot claims Bally’s work doesn’t violate revolving door rules
Joining Bally’s could help Lightfoot preserve one of her top achievements as mayor, but is hard to square with her reformer credentials, a top watchdog told Crain’s.
Situation of the reserve team's squad
Several players from Girona B have ended their association with the Club and will not continue to be part of the reserve team next season.This is the case for Ferran Ruiz, Oriol Comas, and Miguel Sán...
Simpler lung cancer screening criteria could capture more patients likely to benefit
New research published in JAMA Internal Medicine compared current USPSTF criteria to a potential shift toward total years smoked, rather than pack years.
Nearly 100% of patients surveyed say they’d want to know when AI is used in imaging
Researchers recently sought to better understand how patients perceive rapidly evolving advancements in AI, sharing their findings in RSNA’s Radiology.
Servers recalled after glitch results in radiologists reading images for wrong patients
The issue could cause a reader to unintentionally report on the wrong patient when using interactive applications, according to a notice from the FDA.
Garden City restaurant violations include black mold, unsafe foods
Wayne County health reports show violations at Garden City eateries, including improper food storage, equipment malfunctions and hygiene issues.
5 takeaways from Anthropic’s big science event
The company rolled out a biology-centric version of Claude and hosted surprisingly forthright conversations about AI and science.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ 2026 TSRI Science Day Highlights Advances in Cancer Biology
June 17 saw more than 400 scientists, clinicians, research staff, and other Children’s Hospital Los Angeles team members come together for The Saban Research Institute’s (TSRI) yearly symposium and poster session—Science Day 2026.
Anthropic's New AI Workbench Mapped My Field For $26. Now Imagine It Aimed At The Rest Of Science
Anthropic's Claude Science is a capable AI research workbench built for molecular biology. The opportunities for the rest of science are enormous.
Supreme Court strikes down political party spending limits
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that campaign finance limits on political parties violate the First Amendment, a decision expected to increase the flow of money into the midterm elections.
Generative AI chest X-ray models offer new approach to radiology reporting and quality improvement
While the technology remains investigational in many practices, researchers say it has the potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, streamline AI development and strengthen radiology quality assurance.
Court rules N.Y. all-electric buildings mandate does not violate federal law
The law would new gas hookups in new buildings under seven stories before expanding to all new buildings.
Court rules N.Y. all-electric buildings mandate does not violate federal law
The law would new gas hookups in new buildings under seven stories before expanding to all new buildings.
How safe is your favorite restaurant in the Hudson Valley?
Search our database to see the latest health inspection results and violations for restaurants across New York state.
Kelly statement on SCOTUS ruling protecting girls' and women's sports
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to prevent biological men from playing in girls' and women's sports, U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) released the following statement:
New York cardiologist performs first procedure in US with FDA-cleared imaging tech
The OpusWave Dual Sensor Imaging captures both IVUS and OFDI, providing users with two complementary views of the coronaries at the same time.
Recent Research on How Experiencing Racial Discrimination Impacts Health
This brief provides an overview of the relationship between racial discrimination and health and highlights research examining mechanisms underlying health outcomes linked to experiences of racial discrimination, including biological changes, chronic stress, mental health, substance use, pregnancy-related outcomes, and sleep.
SCOTUS protects girls in sports, upholds biological reality
A trans athlete keeps winning girls' state titles in California. The Supreme Court just made sure 27 other states don't have to allow it.
Supreme Court makes ruling on trans athletes in women's sports
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold West Virginia and Idaho laws requiring student-athletes to compete based on biological sex at birth.
Want to Feel Less Stressed or Anxious? Science Says Just Fake a Smile
Research shows a 20-second fake smile 'improves physiology during acute stress, improves stress recover, and reduces illness over time.' Can't beat that.
Opinion | Protect the workers who protect our health
Massachusetts lawmakers should pass bipartisan workplace violence reforms before the legislative session ends.
Radiology providers must pay $7M, modify policies after breast cancer miss
Radiologist Henry C. Lusane, MD, with Acumen Medical Imaging, interpreted the scans, reporting the mass as benign, a mistake later leading to a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Recently acquired radiology group reports data breach
The Women’s Center for Radiology, which was acquired by Solis Mammography in January, hired a cybersecurity firm to help investigate the scope of the matter.
AI cuts hospital system's MRI wait times by more than 50%
The health network, which operates 37 hospitals in California, drastically reduced scheduling delays after integrating an FDA-cleared algorithm designed to speed up imaging acquisition times.
Biology alumni receive honor for undergraduate paleontology research
Julia Zottola ’26 and Sofia Corsico-Sánchez ’26 earn recognition from the Association for Women Geoscientists and the Paleontological Society
Gaining biological insights through supervised data visualization
Nature Computational Science - This study introduces RF-PHATE, a supervised visualization method that preserves data structure while revealing biological patterns, enabling insights into disease...
Not many ‘Iron Men’ are left in Major League Baseball
Pete Alonso played his 500th consecutive game this week, although if he wanted that to seem impressive to local fans, he probably picked the wrong city to play in. Alonso, of course, joined the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason. Their franchise record for consecutive games is also the big league record of 2,632 by true […]
KC council wants to crack down on unlicensed businesses that lead to violence
A city law change is being considered weeks after a shooting at an unregistered nightclub.
Faculty in Politics, Chemistry, Biology and English Appointed to Endowed Professorships | Pomona College in Claremont, California
Four faculty members have been awarded endowed professorship positions. The Pomona College Board of Trustees voted to support these appointments during their meeting in May.
Hood College Launches Accelerated One-Year Master of Science in Environmental Biology Track
Beginning in Fall 2026, Hood College's Graduate School will offer a new accelerated, 30-credit track within its Master of Science in Environmental Biology program, providing students with a pathway to earn their degree in just one academic year while gaining valuable hands-on research experience.
Ohio Casino Control Commission seizes illegal gaming machines from Sidney business
Complaints had been filed alleging that the business was operating gaming machines in violation of state law, prompting an investigation.
Colorado Supreme Court: Redistricting plans for 2028 election cannot proceed under state constitution
The Colorado Supreme Court blocked all attempts at redrawing congressional district boundaries for the 2028 election from reaching the ballot on Monday, concluding each of the proposed ballot measures violated the constitutional single-subject requirement. The court considered five distinct, but related, ballot measures. Three proposals would have redrawn U.S. House of Representatives districts to give […]
Local government officials are discussing public business behind closed doors. Is that legal?
Transparency advocates say small group “check-ins” violate the spirit and purposes of North Carolina’s open meetings law.
Careers That Shaped Biology
Every great scientific career begins with a question no one has been able to answer — and a scientist stubborn enough to keep asking it. This series looks back at the careers of some of HHMI’s most distinguished scientists — people whose contributions have changed what we know about life itself, and whose stories reflect the best of what science, and scientists, can be.
How the Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach Shattered Australia’s Political Consensus
After the country’s most deadly act of gun violence in nearly thirty years, some politicians asked whether the real problem wasn’t gun control but antisemitism. Were they right?
Uneven access to radiology AI could deepen healthcare disparities
New Neiman research explores how Medicare's New Technology Add-On Payment has impacted use of an AI triage tool for pinpointing severe strokes.
House committee advances radiology-backed legislation to curb prior authorization
The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act seeks to streamline the “often cumbersome and time-consuming” task of approving requests for medical imaging in Medicare Advantage.
Radiology vendor Nano-X Imaging warns of ‘going concern’ risk as losses deepen
The publicly traded, Israel-based company reported its quarterly earnings result on June 25, including a net loss of $14.3 million, up 8% from the previous year.
New US-Iran clashes revealed fragility of truce — and why it may work
An apparent agreement by the US and Iran to pause a fresh outburst of violence stabilized a truce that is the first step to permanently ending the war and underscored that each side has a vital national interest in doing so.
Elon Musk shares Armie Hammer comeback film banned in Germany for violent anti-immigrant imagery
Elon Musk shared a link to stream Uwe Boll's 'Citizen Vigilante' in its entirety. The Armie Hammer comeback vehicle was effectively banned from distribution in Germany due to violent anti-immigrant imagery.
Dear 'House of the Dragon': Enough with the threats of sexual violence
"House of the Dragon" Season 3 veers too close to the worst impulses of "Game of Thrones."
Atlanta businesses push back on proposed liquor license pause as leaders seek to curb Edgewood Avenue violence
Edgewood Avenue business owners back public safety improvements after recent violence, but some say pausing new liquor licenses won't solve crime's root causes.
Orioles drop series with 6-4 loss to Nats
Kyle Bradish walked five batters, and Washington’s Luis García Jr made the Birds pay in a 6-4 result at Camden Yards.
Efzimfotase alfa demonstrated improvements in bone health in treatment-naïve pediatric patients with hypophosphatasia achieving median difference of 1.67 vs placebo in RGI-C Score at week 25 in MULBERRY Phase III trial
Positive results from the MULBERRY Phase III trial showed that efzimfotase alfa (ALXN1850), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in bone health in children (2 to
Reproduction affects health—and so does biological sex
Starting one's sex life and having children at a young age can run in the family. But can pregnancy have beneficial health effects, and do the partner's genes contribute to them? "We are just beginning ...
Rise in cancer in younger adults may be explained by faster 'biological aging,' early study hints
Researchers report that younger adults with older‑than‑expected biological ages are more likely to develop early‑onset lung, gastrointestinal and uterine cancers, but more research is needed.
Scientists Challenge a Fundamental Assumption About Consciousness
A new philosophical study challenges the idea that consciousness requires human-like biology.
Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles Game Thread
Follow along as the Nats look to snap their 4 game losing streak and get back to .500
My Boyfriend Said His Family Friend Is Like a “Sister” to Him. Uh, That’s Not What His Computer History Says.
He violated everyone's trust with this.
Mountain lions changed everything in this tiny California preserve
A surprising ecological makeover unfolded when mountain lions began frequenting a small preserve south of San Francisco. Deer activity dropped, plants recovered, and shifts among predators like coyotes, bobcats, and foxes followed. The study shows that powerful “trophic cascades” aren’t limited to remote wilderness—they can happen in small, suburban preserves too.
Scientists discover what triggers belly fat as we age
Aging may trigger the appearance of specialized stem cells that supercharge the body's ability to create new belly fat. The discovery reveals a potential biological driver of middle-age weight gain and a promising target for future anti-obesity treatments.
Supreme Court ruling on Roundup points to a confusing difference between the law and science
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Roundup shows science and law use the same word — causation — while asking different questions, writes epidemiologist.
3 foods that seem healthy but may be bad for your heart: cardiologist
A cardiologist said popular "healthy" foods can actually be bad for your heart, since they're highly processed and full of additives like sugar and fat.
Days Ahead to Show If Burnham Plays Politics Better Than Starmer
Standing across from Keir Starmer in the Commons chamber this week, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch drew on a particularly violent metaphor for how the Labour Party had ditched him when she conjured up an image of “400 knives stuck in the prime minister’s back.”
National Science Foundation finds no violations in Texas A&M research security contract
U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House of Representatives' select committee on China, had urged the NSF to pause funding for a project known as SECURE.
NY restaurant inspections: Search health code violations by restaurant
Search New York restaurant inspection reports to see if your favorite local dining spots are meeting safety standards.
We have an epidemic of political violence in this country: National Review columnist
National Review columnist Caroline Downey discusses growing political violence and criticizes Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his remarks about the Chicago cross-burning incident.
We have an epidemic of political violence in this country: National Review columnist
National Review columnist Caroline Downey discusses growing political violence and criticizes Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his remarks about the Chicago cross-burning incident.
Rock Creek Entertainment District under siege in new lawsuit
A citizens group has sued to block Norman's $1.1 billion Rock Creek Entertainment District, alleging constitutional and Open Meetings Act violations.
Trump says Iran strike in Strait of Hormuz is a ‘foolish violation’ of agreement
President Donald Trump called Iran’s strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz a “foolish violation” of the agreement to end the war with Tehran, but offered little indication the episode would prompt a return to active hostilities.
Why Do Deadly Viruses Spare Mosquitoes? Science Has an Answer
Mosquitoes carry some of the world's deadliest viruses, biting victim after victim for their entire lives without ever getting sick themselves. Scientists have long suspected a biological explanation,...
Scientists stunned by signs of ancient life in a place no one expected
Scientists exploring ancient seafloor rocks in Morocco discovered mysterious wrinkle patterns where they were never expected to occur. These structures are normally linked to microbial mats in shallow, sunlit waters, yet the rocks formed hundreds of feet below the surface in darkness. Evidence indicates that chemosynthetic microbes created the wrinkles, revealing that deep-ocean microbial ecosystems may have been more widespread than previously thought.
Study analyzes youth sports and committing violence
The study used survey data on 3,849 adults who participated in the National Sports and Society Survey.
Study analyzes youth sports and committing violence
The study used survey data on 3,849 adults who participated in the National Sports and Society Survey.
Study analyzes youth sports and committing violence
The study used survey data on 3,849 adults who participated in the National Sports and Society Survey.
‘It’s necessary, we need it’: Business owner welcomes increased Petersburg police presence after Father’s Day mass shooting
Petersburg police have announced a new public safety initiative to curb gun violence after several recent shootings, including a Father’s Day mass shooting in Old Towne that left five people injure…
The Business of Beauty Global Forum: Beauty’s New Future
Tom Hale, Violette Serrat, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and more explored what the future of beauty will look like, and who will shape it, in the final session of The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2026.
WATCH: Stephen Miller says 'America's doors are closed fully to asylum seekers' after Supreme Court rulings
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Thursday to allow the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.
Moore links Maryland primary to Mamdani-backed wins; analysts disagree
Gov. Wes Moore says Maryland’s primary election showed voters rejected the status quo, but political analysts say the results reflect a more complicated picture.
Neuroimaging utilization in emergency departments has increased year-over-year for a decade
Researchers believe their new data could be used to better inform staffing coverage in modern radiology departments.
Making Our Own Luck
We are cross-posting a piece that former NIH official Kris Willis wrote for Macroscience. Kris is now the President and Founder of the Woodley Park Institute, for which I’m a board member. Picking winners or hedging bets? Federal science agencies have long wrestled with the question of how to ensure their billions of dollars of grants and contracts result in maximum benefits for Americans. On the surface, it might seem that a goal-oriented, interventionist style of management would be the best policy: prioritize our most pressing problems and distribute funding accordingly.This top-down strategy creates a unique hazard, though: bad choices can send resources in the wrong direction, resulting in slow progress that impedes the delivery of tangible benefits to citizens. Moreover, if decision makers pursue an applied advance when the underlying scientific principles remain poorly understood, they risk costly failures and a loss of support for the research enterprise at large. Examples include Nixon’s 1971 War on Cancer, undertaken on the premise that a cure could be achieved in less than a decade, the drive to build an operational commercial fusion plant by the mid-1990s, and the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which failed to produce the effective treatments and prevention strategies promised by 2025. The contrasting laissez-faire approach is to hedge your bets. If the path to an advance is impossible to predict, then the wisest choice might be to distribute funding to as widely as possible. The main risk of this strategy is that spreading funding thinly may limit the resources available to the most promising research, resulting in the same negative outcomes as the interventionist approach: limited support for the most promising topics, slow progress, and delayed returns. In reality, at science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, program managers navigate between these two extremes, setting some funds aside to target high-priority areas and using the rest to cover the widest possible range of meritorious proposals. This middle path seems like the most rational way to proceed, but it still requires making choices. How much should be set aside for high priority topics? What should those topics be? How should we define merit? Expert opinion can provide a helpful guide, but leading experts can have remarkably different opinions about what matters and what should be prioritized. Moreover, experts and administrators alike can be risk averse, giving an edge to high-profile, well-established concepts. What’s really needed is a data-driven framework to help guide decision-making, one that doesn’t simply repackage prestige or incumbency. Recognizing breakthroughs years in advance Many breakthroughs fail to attract funding or recognition at the earliest stages of development. Katalin Karikó, for example, spent years struggling to win grants for work on mRNA that would eventually win her and Drew Weissman a Nobel Prize. Similar stories can be told about Jim Allison’s groundbreaking studies leading to the development of cancer immunotherapy, Stan Pruisner’s demonstration that prions can self-replicate without DNA, or Robin Warren and Barry Marshall’s proof that Helicobacter pylori, not stress, causes ulcers. Yet at some point, the scientific community recognizes and responds to transformative breakthroughs like these. How does that change happen? And what if science funders could identify the areas that are on the cusp of a breakthrough? Those questions led my collaborators and me to study how scientists responded to past breakthroughs. Based on patterns in that data, we developed a means of predicting future breakthroughs, using biomedicine as a proof of concept. It’s worth taking a moment to describe how our approach works. Briefly, our prediction process begins by grouping the 18 million or so peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, the authoritative database of biomedical research, into roughly 50,000 unique topics. A small subset of these topics are so widely acclaimed as breakthroughs that they have been recognized with a major prize like a Nobel or a Lasker Award. We theorized that studying the development of these outliers over time, especially before they gained acclaim, was the key to identifying future instances of them. After defining topics, we chose 21 representative breakthroughs and asked what they looked like before they won prestigious prizes. To answer that question, we re-ran our topic-mapping algorithm repeatedly, winding back the clock one year each time, stringing together the years to follow the progress of each field as it grew and advanced. We found that in each case, the years leading up to a discovery followed a pattern: a burst of papers on a new, rapidly evolving topic, many of which quickly became influential. These characteristics—the percent of papers that are new, the percentage of papers that are brought in from other topics, and the influence of each individual paper—can all be measured separately for any given topic. Together, they act as a predictive signal that is detectable an average of five years before a transformative discovery is made, and up to thirty years before the discovery receives a major prize. Scanning the current research landscape for topics that display this signal allows us to predict what work will likely produce a future breakthrough. Each year we analyzed includes four or five signals, a number that appears to have remained constant across a twenty year time frame. In their classic work on the sociology of science, Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar established that the desire to participate in a major discovery is an important motivator for scientists as they consider whether they should take up (or abandon) a research problem. Although further work is needed, the simplest explanation for our results is that this behavior is widespread enough to detect at scale. A foundational advance, or something like it, draws the attention of scientists and causes them to change the direction of their research. They vote with their feet, staking their own reputation and careers by publishing on and citing the new idea. That upswell of interest is the foundation of our breakthrough signal. What kind of research does our model identify as a breakthrough? After building a model based on the patterns in our 21 preselected breakthroughs, we tested it by identifying all early signals of discovery from 1994 through 1997. Of the 18 signals we found in that time period, 17 can be traced forward in time to a breakthrough. Examples include super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (see the image above), the directed evolution of proteins and enzymes (Chemistry Nobel, 2018), and sequencing the human genome (National Medal of Science, 2008). The discovery of the role of leptin signaling in obesity is a particularly interesting case study. Around 1950, scientists noticed the existence of a type of lab mouse that suffered from a unique inherited form of obesity. When given the freedom to choose their own diet, these mice ate more than normal and preferred food that was high in fat. Researchers had few clues as to why the animals overate; early experiments pointed to the existence of a soluble ob factor found circulating in the bloodstream that regulated appetite, but its identity was unknown. In 1994, Jeffrey Friedman and colleagues identified and sequenced the ob gene, noting that the protein it encoded appeared to fit the profile of a circulating factor. A year later, a trio of high-profile publications demonstrated that ob was a hormone that regulated body weight and fat deposition by regulating appetite. One of these was co-authored by Friedman, who christened it leptin from the ancient Greek word for thin. Using our model, the data from 1996 make it clear this advance would become a breakthrough. Scientists had flocked to study the biology of the new hormone, generating the flurry of new papers and citations required to produce a signal. One of these demonstrated that serum leptin concentrations reflected the amount of adipose tissue in the human body, providing clinical validation of the earlier mouse studies. Before the identification of leptin, scientists were unable to point to a specific molecule that controlled appetite and adiposity, so that it was impossible to rule out non-physiological causes of obesity; its characterization fundamentally changed our concept of weight gain. In 2010, Friedman and fellow pioneer Douglas Coleman were awarded a Lasker for the discovery. Our work also identifies breakthroughs in clinical practice and behavioral and social sciences, even though these areas are less likely to draw the attention of major prize committees. One example that falls into this category is the introduction of endovascular aneurysm repair, a minimally invasive surgical procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, a leading cause of death among Americans over the age of 65. Relative to the previous standard of care, it reduces in-hospital mortality by almost four-fold. In 2017, Timothy Chuter received the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Jacobsen Innovation award for his multiple refinements to the technique. Another under-recognized breakthrough identified by our model is the development of standardized survey instruments to assess the quality of life for HIV+ patients. The antiretroviral cocktails introduced in the mid-1990s reduced AIDS mortality, but treatment came with serious side effects. The new evaluations showed that patients whose disease progressed had worse physical functioning than Americans with other chronic diseases, while those who were asymptomatic maintained a health-related quality of life on par with the overall US population. This evidence made it possible for patients and activists to argue that even in the absence of a total cure, and in spite of the side effects, alleviation of symptoms was a worthwhile priority for clinicians. My colleagues and I have failed to identify any significant recognition for the physicians and health policy experts who pioneered this advance, although in 2016, researchers called for the World Health Organization to set targets for good health-related quality of life as part of its framework to end the AIDS pandemic. From forecasting to funding How should science funders use our predictions? Any serious discussion of what we should do with this new capability needs to begin with an understanding of its limitations. We can’t (and shouldn’t) invest all of our resources in the small number of topics predicted to produce breakthroughs. Innovative new fields are born from existing ones; they rarely arise de novo. If funders don’t maintain a diverse portfolio, the breakthroughs of tomorrow will have no antecedents. Think of this as eating the seed corn, or killing the goose that lays the golden egg. There are also multiple goals of funding beyond basic scientific discovery, including translating discoveries into clinical practice, developing new technologies, supporting economic development, and training new scientists. The investments needed to accomplish these goals are likely different from those required to support emerging breakthroughs. Finally, we must be aware that we may not capture every instance of a breakthrough. The concept is fuzzy, and not every significant discovery is recognized with a major award. Further, breakthroughs are rare, meaning that our dataset is, by necessity, small. This makes formal estimates of accuracy challenging. Although our overall success rate appears to be high, any one signal may turn out to be a false positive. We found one apparent example: the development of the third generation COX-2 inhibitors, Vioxx and Celebrex, which were much celebrated in the early 2000s as effective but non-addictive pain relievers, meets all the algorithmic criteria of a breakthrough. Five years after it received FDA approval, researchers demonstrated that Vioxx was associated with serious cardiovascular complications, and the manufacturer voluntarily pulled the drug from the market. Celebrex remains available, although like other NSAIDs, it carries an FDA warning for increased cardiovascular risk. Decision makers who were overly focused on the breakthrough potential of this research might have wasted substantial resources nurturing an area that ultimately proved to be a failure—but so would those who relied on expert opinion at the time. That said, the potential benefits of funding the next mRNA vaccine or cancer immunotherapy years earlier than we might have are large. When we can’t assume the outcome of an action, it’s worth conducting an experiment. Can targeted support for areas that are poised to produce a breakthrough increase the return on scientific investment without cannibalizing future advances? With the necessary administrative infrastructure in place, conducting this experiment would be straightforward. First, identify all the breakthrough signals between 2018 and 2023, select half at random, and commit to a decade of investment. For biomedicine, a six year window should yield about 30 topics with the potential to produce a breakthrough. Providing strong support to half of these might be accomplished for $300 million a year. That’s roughly half of the recent annual budget of the NIH Common Fund or around 20% of the fiscal year 2025 budget for ARPA-H. After five years, then again at ten, compare to see which group — the one that was actively managed, or the control — produced more breakthroughs, and on what timescale. Although we used biomedicine as an example, the same experiment could just as well be run for physics, materials science, or any other discipline. Any attempt to undertake such an experiment should keep three points top of mind. First, we can predict the topic of future breakthroughs, but the people and vision for how to move the work forward are still important. In practice, this means success requires active program managers with the expertise to develop the science and the authority to do so, including by recruiting investigators. Second, we would be wise to learn from the failures of past attempts to fund transformative research. High among these are funding modestly repackaged work, confusing the genuinely novel with the merely unfamiliar, and relying too much on incumbent investigators. All of these risks can be mitigated by thoroughly and intelligently integrating high quality data into portfolio management. Finally, we need to have patience. Even with strong funding support, producing a breakthrough takes time. If supporting breakthroughs is the best way to nurture the birth of new fields, we also need to accurately describe and properly manage the other two stages, so that we invest wisely throughout the productive lifetime of ideas and divest once they reach the point of diminishing returns. We would benefit from more study of all of these phases, especially the transition from one to another. More research could answer questions like: When does a breakthrough become an established field? How do the availability of funding, the size and characteristics of the available workforce, and the accumulation of evidence that disagrees with prevailing models affect a field’s decline? Exactly how do old ideas give birth to new ones, and can we speed up the process? The more we understand about the dynamics of scientific progress, the better we can maximize the odds that our curiosity leads to results. I’d call that finding a way to make our own luck.
Participating in heavy-contact youth sports, dropping out of sports linked to acts of violence
Contrary to popular belief, simply playing organized youth sports does not reduce the likelihood of committing violence in one’s lifetime, and in some cases, may increase it, according to a new study.The study, published online recently in the Sociology of Sport Journal, found that while most survey respondents — including those who played y...
Commitment: Texas lands 2027 three-star IOL Lucas Rhoa
The Texas Longhorns continue a great week of recruiting by landing 2027 three-star interior offensive lineman Lucas Rhoa.
Poor metabolic health can age the brain even in young people, finds new large-scale study
Two people of very different ages can have a similar level of biological aging in their brains. Such an occurrence is possible because aging and metabolic health follow two distinct pathways that influence ...
Three in five young gun violence survivors do not receive mental healthcare – this California bill can fix that
The Thrive Act will create a pilot program that offers mental health resources for shooting survivors and witnesses under 25
Brownsville shuts down seven businesses in city's entertainment district over code violations
Seven late-night businesses along Brownsville's Pablo Kisel Boulevard entertainment district have been ordered to close after the city revoked their certificates of occupancy for code and safety ordinance violations.
Regenerative Agriculture and Population Health
Regenerative agriculture can enhance food quality and reduce harmful exposures through improved soil biology, biodiversity, and ecosystem health, yielding downstream benefits for agriculture, food systems, and human health. It may improve profitability through greater land resilience and lower input costs and may deliver benefits to farms, farmers, communities, and the broader environment. More research is warranted to understand the full range of potential health benefits of regenerative agriculture.
Imaging-related burdens may be keeping some from completing cancer screenings
Targeted interventions could help reduce pre-test anxiety, improve the physical screening experience, and address structural barriers in underserved settings.
The history behind the Marcus Alert System
Marcus-David Peters was a 24-year-old high school biology teacher at Essex High School when he died.
Medicaid-focused Cityblock acquiring MA business Homeward Health
Cityblock Health has raised $886 million and Homeward Health has raised roughly $72 million.
Medicaid-focused Cityblock acquiring MA business Homeward Health
Cityblock Health has raised $886 million and Homeward Health has raised roughly $72 million.
Online violence against women in politics: what shapes political party responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence?
Political parties have a primary role to play in tackling online violence against women and gender diverse politicians. While the prevalence and impact of TFGBV, such as coordinated disinformation campaigns, deepfake image-based sexual abuse or trolling are well documented, many parties are still building their knowledge on how to respond effectively and have not put in place internal practices and policies that respond to the rapidly evolving, poorly regulated digital ecosystem. About the ReportIn order to promote and protect fair and democratic participation in politics, this ALIGN Report explores what political parties are doing in response to TFGBV and what factors shape their action. The findings, based on existing literature and interviews with gender and politics professionals, indicate there are three sets of factors which donors, civil society and practitioners should consider when designing action to support political parties to respond to TFGBV internally. These are: (1) gender norms; (2) socio-political environment; and (3) internal party factors.Key messagesUnequal gender norms are ubiquitous across politics, shaping expectations of leaders to be strong and assertive, and practices of political parties to uphold masculinist values and sustain cultures of silence. These often lead to weak response to TFGBV against women politicians.The socio-political context can incentivise or disincentivise action, depending on the salience of gender issues, which are increasingly weaponised. Electoral competitiveness, domestic laws (i.e. quota requirements), and even the political system or global normative frameworks influence political will to act.Internal party factors that shape responses will vary across countries and contexts, but include: structures to enforce codes of conduct, policies and reporting mechanisms on (TF)GBV, political ideology, extent of centralisation of leadership, and crucially the meaningful participation of women in decision-making positions, not least through internal women’s wings.Party responses can be seen as a spectrum, with actions falling between active discouragement to address TFGBV to commitment to transform unequal norms and practices within the party.About the ToolkitTogether with the report, this ALIGN toolkit offers gender professionals and others working on democratic strengthening a set of guiding questions and reflection prompts to identify which responses could be most effective and suitable in different contexts. These actions can complement other solutions to TFGBV, such as regulations promoting safety by design. The assessment spans a broad range of factors including: (1) different manifestations of gender norms, (2) the socio-political environment and (3) internal party structures.Key messagesPolitical parties are duty-bound to take action internally to respond to the significant threats posed to women members and candidates, including from their own party colleagues, affiliates and political peers.Existing party approaches to TFGBV can be assessed along a spectrum which ranges from active discouragement and passive acceptance to minimal response and transformative change.To generate effective and context-appropriate solutions to TFGBV, it is important to consider how gender norms shape leadership expectations and internal party practices, while also analysing the impact of the socio-political environment. While actions to support women to stay safe online are very common, codes of conduct and measures to strengthen women’s voice and power in the parties are proposed as most transformative solutions.
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