~podcast-25-lead-and | Bookmarks (85)

In a wide-ranging interview with Undark, Ashish Jha, the former White House Covid-19 response coordinator for the Biden Administration, discusses what the nation got right and wrong during the pandemic, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the impact of partisan politics on public health.

Covid-19 has had had a disproportionate effect on Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities. One health policy researcher says the pandemic’s toll may have shaped the U.S. electorate in ways that cost Democrats the 2024 election. Health care, he argues, must be at the forefront in future elections.

Physician Health Programs aim to help doctors struggling with substance use and other problems while also keeping the public safe. But some medical professionals say the programs are overly punitive, trail best practices in addiction medicine, and do more harm than good.

The yearly COP climate conference is growing in size, but not in its ability to act on climate goals, experts say. A 2021 report suggests splitting the conference into three parts and changing the timing could have much more impact, and would also help address some conflicts of interest.

This week on Entanglements: Should citizens decide on risky science? Our hosts talk to an Oxford political scientist and a former law and ethics professor about how democracy should play a role in high-stakes decisions.

In an age where humans have learned to manipulate the very stuff of life, and to breathe a chilling and self-enhancing intelligence into algorithms, citizens of every nation have a right to know what’s being done and why. The lingering question — and one that will matter greatly amid the tectonic political shifts now underway — is whether more people should have a say...

In “The Living Medicine,” journalist Lina Zeldovich recounts the long history of bacteria-eating viruses called bacteriophages, first developed in the early 20th century. Unlike antibiotics, phages evolve alongside the bacterial hosts they destroy, and may be our best weapons for fighting antibiotic resistance.

Mpox has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. Yet on-the-ground responders in Africa report a lack of funding and supplies to address the disease. To prevent mpox from becoming a pandemic, donations need to go directly to local organizations, says one disaster advocacy nonprofit.

U.S. officials want to find domestic sources of metals that go in everything from green technology to cell phones. Science and defense agencies have teamed up to figure out how AI could help, from analyzing new satellite surveys, to scrubbing through older data, pulling obscure signals from the past.

Amid the war’s destruction, Ukrainian scientists are seeing signs of an ecological recovery. When the conflict ends, they say, the nation should not rebuild its massive Soviet-era infrastructure and instead continue the rewilding by letting nature keep restoring itself.

This week on Entanglements, hosts Brooke Borel and Anna Rothschild talk to a former OpenAI employee and a Princeton professor about AI and doom. Could AI really become an existential threat to humanity? Or is the possibility — highlighted by some 300 AI experts in an open letter last year — overhyped?

Circadian rhythms are essential to all living things. For humans, our inner clocks regulate everything from the ebb and flow of hormones to the rise and fall of blood pressure and heart rate, and help our digestive and metabolic systems to gear up ahead of time for meals and to handle other activities.

The Nobel Prizes have long been celebrations of scientific innovation. In this month’s Selective Pressure column, C. Brandon Ogbunu explores how this year’s awards have highlighted the increased relevance of technology and magnified existing questions about where — and how — scientific discovery happens.

Severe side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations, like Guillain-Barré syndrome, are very rare. But, writes journalist Anthony Flint, the government currently does not sufficiently document or provide compensation for such cases. Doing so it vital to improving vaccines and engendering trust in vaccine safety.

A $1.7 trillion military program is advancing the American nuclear arsenal. While some analysts argue that the program is crucial to building — or rebuilding — a formidable arsenal that deters other nuclear powers, other say it raises questions for both nuclear deterrence and arms control.

The Undark podcast is back with a new format and a new name: Entanglements. Tune in as our hosts explore some of the most contentious topics in science today. Our first 8-episode season will launch November 11, with new episodes dropping every Monday through the end of the year.

Marty Makary, a surgeon, author, and one of medicine’s most prolific iconoclasts, takes aim at the medical establishment in “Blind Spots,” deploying behind-the-scenes case studies to reveal the many ways in which physicians often promote bad science and baseless opinions at the peril of their patients.

More than one-third of children in the U.S. experience a visit from child protective services during their childhoods. Most of these reports don’t stem from allegations of abuse but rather from signs of poverty. Direct, unrestricted financial support would do more to improve child welfare than these traumatic investigations.

A new study found promise in the “DebunkBot” — an AI chatbot used to challenge beliefs in conspiracies, such as that the 2020 election involved voter fraud. But experts say that while artificial intelligence could help combat falsehoods, it also raises concerns about potential misuse.

Researchers tracking the social and political impacts of storms, floods, and heat waves say their effects are often transient and short-lived. But for those who’ve experienced disasters, some recent research has found climate-disaster response is starting to bridge opposite sides of the climate debate.

Major crimes are falling by most official measures — murder and manslaughter cases fell by almost 12 percent last year, for example. But there is a serious disconnect between the data and public perception, with several surveys suggesting that many Americans still believe crime is increasing. Why is that?

In the field of public health, institutions still hold the power to set agendas and implement measures to protect people’s health. Instead, what’s needed is a bottom-up approach that gives local communities the opportunity to share their needs with and propose solutions to global health professionals.

To economist David Rothschild, “social media is the problem” makes for a good story, but the truth about online misinformation is much more nuanced. In a recent review, Rothschild and co-authors found that the average person isn’t actually exposed to false and inflammatory content very frequently — among other misperceptions.

For decades throughout the opioid crisis, most doctors have relied on medication-heavy regimens to treat babies who are born experiencing neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. But a newer, simpler approach that prioritizes keeping babies with their families is gaining ground.