Science Literacy Project Daily Digest
Viewpoint: Died “with measles” vs. died “from measles”: RFK, Jr.’s dangerously subversive word games
The pandemic-era line “died with COVID, not from it” has come back, and this time it’s being used to leave ...
Vaccine hesitancy, like malaria, surges globally, topping 35% in some countries
As trust in vaccines weakens worldwide, it has been found that in some countries, more than one in three adults ...
Blood tests for Alzheimer’s? The latest grifter, social media scam.
Social media is selling Alzheimer’s blood tests as a crystal ball for healthy people, and the evidence doesn’t back it ...
Here are all the ways CRISPR gene editing is transforming Africa’s staple crops—and there’s a lot more innovation to come
CRISPR gene editing is already reshaping Africa’s most important food crops, from disease-resistant bananas to less toxic cassava, and a ...
How U.S. teamed with Russia to block global human AI weapons oversight
When diplomats gathered in Geneva to finalize the first international rules on lethal autonomous weapons, the United States and Russia ...
Defying public perceptions, U.S. cancer deaths plunged 35% since 1991
The U.S. is winning more ground against cancer than many people realize. The overall cancer death rate fell 35% between ...
Social media influencers are driving food misinformation across Europe
Scroll long enough and someone will promise that a supplement, superfood or detox tea can fix whatever ails you. Those ...
Viewpoint: Kennedy’s ‘bad science’: MAGA embrace bolsters HHS secretary’s influence and popularity
Pennsylvania has recorded four measles deaths this year — the state’s first in 35 years — yet the federal government’s ...
Astrology, homeopathy, vaccine rejectionism, creationism: Why pseudoscience thrives as science advances
Science has never known more, yet pseudoscience keeps gaining ground. Astrology, homeopathy, creationism and vaccine rejectionism all make scientific-sounding claims ...
Viewpoint: After firing the entire National Science Board, Trump reshapes funding initiatives. Here’s the good and the bad.
The National Science Foundation is steering most of its money away from grants for individual researchers’ best ideas and toward ...
Energy-sucking data centers are unpopular across the political spectrum. Could moving them into space change the equation?
Google plans to launch a satellite on Oct. 1 that can run its artificial intelligence technologies in orbit, an early ...
What constitutes a measles death? RFK, Jr. maneuvers to restrict definition to make pandemic seem less dire
The CDC's decision to scrub two Pennsylvania measles deaths from its public tally, replacing them with an asterisk, has experts ...
Viewpoint: 7-OH controversy: An opioid is available over-the-counter–even at gas stations. Should we be concerned?
A potent opioid is sitting on gas station shelves next to the beef jerky, and anyone with $20 can buy ...
RFK, Jr. likely violated federal ethics guidelines in accepting more than $4,275,000 in gifts and book advances from MAHA allies
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted $4 million in book advances and more than $270,000 in gifts over the ...
No, organic eggs are not more nutritious or necessarily healthier than regular eggs. They are far more expensive.
Organic eggs cost considerably more than conventional ones, but that premium mostly pays for how the hens are raised, not ...
New federal autism committee head has financial ties to leucovorin
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has handed the reins of federal autism research to a doctor with a commercial stake in ...
Current and future RFK Jr. aides criticize his science-rejectionist vaccine views
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years casting doubt on vaccines, but the people lined up to work ...
Now AI almost started a war with China
This spring, at the height of the war with Iran, US forces came within moments of boarding a Chinese ship ...
Trump administration clears the way for speedy approvals of once-restricted tobacco vapes and pouches
The Trump administration wants to make it easier for flavored vapes, nicotine pouches and other newer tobacco products to reach ...
80% of Americans take (mostly useless) supplements for their health
Nearly eight in ten Americans take at least one pill, powder or gummy in the name of good health, as ...
Viewpoint: 4 very real AI doomsday scenarios
An engineered pandemic, a nuclear war, a planet paved over with paper clip factories: AI researchers have floated plenty of ...
After Idaho criminalized abortion providers in 2022, one-third of obstetricians fled. Health care advocates are making rural health the case for repealing the ban
Idaho's campaign to overturn one of the nation's toughest abortion bans is centering on doctors rather than abortion itself, as ...
Anti-GMO activists in Pakistan rev up their campaign of dire warnings
Pakistan is weighing whether to commercialize genetically modified maize, and critics of the technology are sounding the alarm, warning of ...
How can we know if social media bans actually help teens?
Australia’s first-in-the-world social media ban for kids under 16 has so far produced more workarounds than results. That’s exactly why ...
There has been a slew of recent reports of food recalls and foodborne outbreaks. Do we face an escalating problem?
Egg recalls, salmonella-linked jalapeños and a spike in cyclospora cases have dominated headlines this year, but the U.S. food-safety system ...
Facing pressure from Trump administration, fewer hospitals offer medical treatment for transgender minors
At least six major U.S. hospitals have signed deals with the Department of Justice agreeing to stop providing gender-affirming hormones ...
Microsoft exec: AI is a ‘doom loop’ scraping the ‘largest theft of labor in human history’
Newly unsealed court filings show that Microsoft and OpenAI executives privately described their AI models as trained on stolen work ...
