Science

The New York Times reports: A public letter from NASA employees on Monday urges leaders of the space agency not to carry out deep cuts sought by the Trump administration. “We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety, scientific advancement and efficient use of public resources,” the employees wrote in the letter. It …

The New York Times reports: The Department of Health and Human Services finalized the layoffs of thousands of employees after a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed with mass firings across the government. Employees received notice of their termination late Monday, marking a turning point in the reshaping of the nation’s health care work …

Science reports: In response to White House concerns about allegedly risky research on viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun a crackdown on dozens of studies it was funding, ScienceInsider has learned. Citing Trump’s executive order promising greater oversight of “gain-of-function” (GOF) research that’s potentially dangerous, the agency has demanded the scientists leading those …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s budget plan guts federal science funding for the next fiscal year, according to an overview published by an external group. Particularly at risk is the category of basic research— the blue-sky variety meant to push back the frontiers of human knowledge and sow practical spinoffs and breakthroughs in such everyday fields as health …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one step closer to confirmation. On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to advance the nomination of Susan Monarez, a former agency acting director who has held various health-related roles in the federal government for 20 years. Monarez advanced along …

CNN reports: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has ended its emergency response to H5N1 bird flu, citing a drop in cases. “As reports of animal infections with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus (“H5N1 bird flu”) have declined and no human cases have been reported since February 2025, on July 2, 2025, CDC’s H5N1 emergency bird flu …

The Washington Post reports: The United States has reached its highest annual measles case tally in 33 years, hitting at least 1,277 confirmed cases across 38 states and the District of Columbia. The milestone marks a public health reversal in defeating a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease as the anti-vaccine movement gains strength. About 92 percent of measles cases in 2025 …

CBS News reports: A fireball, or a bright meteorite, was seen across the southeastern United States on Thursday and later exploded over Georgia, creating booms heard by residents in the area, according to NASA. The American Meteor Society said it received more than 160 reports of a fireball sighting from observers in Georgia and South Carolina at 12:25 p.m. ET. The …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers meet next week, but their agenda suggests they’ll skip some expected topics — including a vote on Covid shots — while taking up a longtime target of anti-vaccine groups. The agenda for the new committee’s first meeting, posted Wednesday, shows it will be shorter than expected. Discussion …

The Guardian reports: One of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starships has exploded during a routine test in Texas, authorities said, in the latest setback to the billionaire’s dream of turning humanity into an interplanetary species. The Starship 36 underwent “catastrophic failure and exploded” at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11pm on Wednesday (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the …

NBC News reports: The Food and Drug Administration has approved a highly effective new HIV-prevention medication, Gilead Sciences reported Wednesday. In clinical trials, the drug nearly eliminated HIV’s spread among people given an injection every six months. Called Yeztugo, the highly effective drug has inspired feverish anticipation among advocates for HIV prevention. The hope is the medication could accelerate the …

NPR reports: Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia on Monday filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court seeking to block the sale of personal genetic data by 23andMe without customer consent. The lawsuit comes as a biotechnology company seeks the court’s approval to buy the struggling firm. Biological samples, DNA data, health-related traits and medical records are too sensitive to …

Axios reports: By gutting the expert panel that’s advised the government on vaccine policy for more than 60 years, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned the condemnation of virtually every medical society, as well as former public health officials and local practitioners. The distress and lack of organization apparent in health circles on Tuesday was a sign that a …

Axios reports: Current and former employees of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are calling on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign, warning that job cuts and proposed funding reductions will hurt the agency’s ability to protect the public from future health outbreaks. Dozens of current employees at the facility walked out in protest of the cuts and …

Reuters reports: Dozens of scientists, researchers and other employees at the U.S. National Institutes of Health issued a rare public rebuke Monday criticizing the Trump administration for major spending cuts that “harm the health of Americans and people across the globe,” politicize research and “waste public resources.” More than 60 current employees sent their letter to NIH director Dr. Jay …

The Hill reports: The bird flu virus can remain infectious in raw milk for over a day at room temperature and more than a week when refrigerated, according to a new, non-peer-reviewed research from a group of UK scientists. The study, published in medRxiv, examined the stability of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in raw cow and sheep milk, with …

Straight Arrow News reports: A recent study has raised new questions about how artificial intelligence responds to human control. According to findings from Palisade Research, a version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, known as model o3, altered its behavior to avoid being shut down, even after it was instructed to do so. Researchers said the model appeared to change its scripted responses …

The Guardian reports: A cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells. The virus’s ability to conceal itself inside certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is a reservoir of the …

Reuters reports: Pediatric infectious disease expert Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos of the U.S. CDC resigned on Tuesday as co-leader of a working group that advises outside experts on COVID-19 vaccines and is leaving the agency, two sources familiar with the move told Reuters. Panagiotakopoulos said in an email to work group colleagues that her decision to step down was based on …

Axios reports: U.S. marijuana use among those 65 and older surged nearly 46% from 2021 to 2023, according to new research in JAMA Internal Medicine. The rapid adoption of state marijuana laws and commercialization of cannabis helped drive much of the increase. But there also are changing social dynamics that make marijuana more acceptable for dealing with chronic pain, stress …