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Assassinations unleashed under Trump haunt Iran war endgame
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have tracked evidence for years of Iranian efforts to target President Trump, with signals only increasing since the start of the war.
Columbia scientists discover surprising link between serotonin and heart valve disease
Scientists have uncovered evidence that serotonin, the chemical best known for regulating mood, may also speed the progression of a common heart valve disease in some people. The research suggests that patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation who take SSRI antidepressants and carry a specific genetic variant may develop severe valve damage sooner, potentially requiring surgery at a younger age.
World’s first right-hander could be this 550 million-year-old worm
The new findings suggest preference towards the right in animals may date back much, much further than once though.
Former Olympian pleads not guilty in Reflecting Pool damage case
Trump, without providing evidence, has alleged the damage was caused by vandals
OpenEvidence backs study that finds it beats LLMs
In this edition of STAT Health Tech: Dueling research pitting OpenEvidence against general purpose LLMs, use of Dexcom's CGM in children, and more.
Science and religion don’t mix? Let’s test the evidence
I suggest a simple use of the “scientific method” to support the historical and current cooperation of science and religion.
FSU scientists find gas emissions from rocks may have contributed to ancient climate swings, mass extinctions
An interdisciplinary team from Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science has uncovered new evidence about processes
Scientists find gas emissions from rocks may have contributed to ancient climate swings, mass extinctions
An interdisciplinary team from Florida State University's Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science has uncovered new evidence about processes that may have contributed to ancient mass-extinction ...
Ubiquiti Patches Critical UniFi Flaws Across Connect, Talk, Access, Protect, and OS
Ubiquiti fixes seven critical UniFi flaws across Connect, Talk, Access, Protect, and OS, with no evidence of exploitation in the wild found.
Opinion: The Lexington Problem: Beating the Literacy Odds Without the Science of Reading
The science of reading has largely won the policy debate. Over the last decade, state after state has embraced evidence-based reading instruction. Legislatures have passed literacy laws, and teacher p...
Scientists Say We May Have Been Wrong About the Origin of Life
Ancient evidence suggests a new twist in how we all got here.
Senegal's Faye Plans to Form His Own Political Party
DAKAR, July 6 (Reuters) - Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is planning to set up his own political party, a coalition supporting him said, the latest evidence of a durable split with his recently ousted prime minister. • Faye has instructed senior adviser Aminata Toure to establish ...
Ghosts in Your Home? Scientists Reveal Why the Evidence Is Real - Futura-Sciences
When Science Faces the Paranormal Around the world, there are countless tales of haunted houses—manor houses in the French countryside, centuries-old British castles, and even stately homes in North America. If you’ve ever stepped into a room and suddenly felt uneasy, as if someone invisible was there with you, you’re...
Evidence in action: how science helps us make better decisions
Anita Chandran reviews Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson
Digital Science unveils AI-powered research strategy platform
Platform "designed to help research institutions answer complex strategic questions using verifiable evidence"
Beetroot juice is trending – its benefits go beyond the hype
Some marathon runners and other athletes swear by beetroot juice shots, but is there evidence they really do anything for our bodies? Columnist Alice Klein investigates
Health secretary seeks advice over maternity inquiry staff who refused to give evidence
James Murray says he felt "numb" after hearing from families affected by the scandal.
Opinion
The evidence for needing eight hours of sleep a night is shakier than we might assume.
5,000-year-old wolves found on remote island rewrite what we know about domestication
Scientists discovered ancient wolves on a tiny Baltic island where they could only have been brought by humans, suggesting an unexpectedly close relationship between people and wolves thousands of years ago. Evidence indicates the wolves were fed, possibly cared for, and may even have been managed or selectively bred long before modern ideas of domestication.
Superintelligent AI in space could explain the Fermi Paradox
Why haven't we found evidence of advanced aliens? It could be that they've outsourced cosmic exploration to superintelligent AI, a new paper suggests.
Stanley M. Gartler, Pioneer in Cancer Research, Dies at 102
He provided the first convincing evidence that cancerous tumors develop from a single mutated cell and later helped expose contamination by cells taken from Henrietta Lacks.
The evidence against “ultra-processed” foods is weaker than you think
New analysis suggests other factors may explain the harms blamed on “ultra-processing”
Scientists discover giant fan-shaped structure beneath Antarctica's ice sheet: The hidden structure rewriting Earth's ancient history
For decades, Antarctica has been treated as a kind of frozen time capsule, a place where evidence of Earth's deep past sits preserved, undisturbed, beneath layers of ice that have built up over millions of years. As per the study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists have now uncovered something remarkable within that buried record: an enormous, fan-shaped geological structure stretching across a huge swath of East Antarctica, hidden entirely from view beneath the ice.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation store page lists multiple DLCs, including story expansion
Last month, we reported that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the final chapter of the acclaimed trilogy that is set to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027, could receive DLC after release. While the game is still a long way off, new evidence has surfaced suggesting that may indeed be the case. According to EpicDB, a third-party tool that tracks...
Rep. Young Kim Introduces Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Act to Strengthen U.S. Leadership, Support American Jobs, and Help Families Globally
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40) introduced the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Act to deploy proven, American-made interventions that reduce maternal and child mortality around the globe while supporting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Each year, nearly 260,000 women die from preventable pregnancy-related complications. Evidence-based solutions like Multiple Micronutrient Supplement (MMS) prenatal vitamins,
4 surprising (and evidence-based) health benefits of drinking coffee
Hundreds of studies have shown that a cup of joe — or more! — every day may protect against some major diseases.
Undercover investigation leads to arrest at Jasper massage business
An undercover investigation into a massage business in Jasper ended Wednesday with one arrest after authorities said they found evidence of illegal activity. The investigation began after the Jasper ...
‘The science is here’: UN chief welcomes first global AI assessment
Fresh scientific evidence and options for harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) were unveiled Wednesday following the launch of the first global, independent scientific assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts by a pioneering UN expert panel.
Professor, Mentor, Researcher, and Data Pioneer: Celebrating Lynn Blewett’s Retirement
I first met Lynn Blewett as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where her courses on the U.S. health care system fundamentally shaped how I understand policy and evidence. What struck me most was her ability to translate complex health systems into their human dimensions and to remind us […]
FDA scientists flag concerns with peptides, the trendy molecules RFK Jr. supports
Documents reviewing the research on peptides note lack of good evidence of efficacy or safety. Yet an FDA panel will consider easing access to them later this month.
FDA scientists flag concerns with peptides, the trendy molecules RFK Jr. supports
Documents reviewing the research on peptides note lack of good evidence of efficacy or safety. Yet an FDA panel will consider easing access to them later this month.
Floodwaters, oil and health fears in South Sudan
Flooding has submerged oil wells in Unity State since 2021, fueling contamination fears among war-displaced communities, though scientific evidence remains limited.
Science for Living: How acupuncture is earning its place in modern medicine
UMass Chan researchers discuss the growing evidence behind acupuncture’s role in modern integrative medicine and how it is helping to reduce chronic pain.
How the Chicago Bulls retooled their sponsorship business to meet CMO data demands
As sports sponsorship spending rises, CMOs are looking for hard evidence to justify their deals. Teams and franchise owners are responding, but there’s competition.
Chatbots Are Replacing Therapists With Little Scientific Evidence Behind Them
Over 100 chatbots are marketed as mental-health-focused, but experts warn they shouldn’t take the place of therapy.
Reviews clear Telescope Health of fraud allegations; officials encourage Jacksonville residents to use HealthLink JAX
Multiple reviews have found no evidence of fraud, criminal wrongdoing or misuse of taxpayer dollars by Telescope Health, ending months of scrutiny over the Jacksonville company that operates the city’s HealthLink JAX program for uninsured residents.
Evidence points to potential new LCD screen for Nintendo Switch 2
The Nintendo Switch 2 screen could be getting a revision, based on the latest evidence. On a Chinese resale site, a listing recently appeared for a a new model of the system’s LCD panel. Sharp would apparently behind the updated screen. The current Nintendo Switch 2 features a panel from Innolux. This new screen has a different circuit, connector, and...
Ethics panel clears Gallego as Luna declares, 'Once a creep, always a creep'
The Senate Ethics Committee dismissed sexual misconduct and campaign finance allegations against Sen. Ruben Gallego after finding no evidence.
Turtles Are Really Weird Animals. Where Did They Come From?
The origin of turtles has puzzled scientists. A new study provides more evidence that these shelled reptiles share a common ancestor with crocodiles and birds.
Naughty Dog Chose The Last of Us Remake Over Uncharted Remake, It's Claimed
Naughty Dog is no stranger to a remake, and evidence suggests an Uncharted 1 Remake was on the cards, with datamined files proving it.
Why scientists fear we're missing evidence of extraterrestrial life
Scientists are raising concerns that we may be overlooking evidence of extraterrestrial life even when it is present. Hidden biosignatures, limitations in detection technology, and assumptions about what life should look like can all create dangerous false negatives. The researchers say future missions should focus not only on finding life, but also on understanding how signs of life could be missed.
A massive asteroid slammed into the North Sea and triggered a 330-foot tsunami
Scientists have finally confirmed the origin of the mysterious Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea. New evidence shows that an asteroid about 160 meters wide struck the seabed roughly 43 to 46 million years ago. The impact triggered a tsunami more than 100 meters high and left behind a crater that geologists debated for years.
Growing scientific evidence links e-cigarette chemicals to heart health risks
DALLAS, June 29, 2026 — Is vaping bad for my health? As people who use e-cigarettes and their loved ones pose questions like this, growing scientific evidence shows that the answer is yes. Research studies show that several chemicals found in...
Is 10,000 Steps a Day Actually Based on Science? Here's What the Research Says
The 10,000 steps target came from a 1960s Japanese marketing campaign, not clinical research. Here's what the evidence actually supports about daily step counts, mortality risk, and what a realistic goal looks like for most people.
Consumer-Directed Health Care: Promise or Pitfall
This panel will examine the evidence and policy outlook for consumer-directed health care as a federal solution to expanded coverage, with a focus on affordability, access, and health outcomes.
Why where you live matters for heart health — even in childhood - Baylor College of Medicine Blog Network
Evidence links environmental exposures to early cardiovascular risk, disproportionately impacting marginalized communities like AI/AN youth.
Ball State Teacher Preparation Programs Earn Top Ratings in Science of Reading Reviews
By Ball State Communications— MUNCIE, Indiana — Ball State University’s elementary education, early childhood education, and special education teacher preparation programs have earned top marks in two reviews focused on how well future educators are prepared to teach reading through evidence-based,
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.
Braille is literacy: Rice researchers are reshaping the science of reading
As schools across the country increasingly embrace evidence-based approaches to reading instruction through the science of reading, two Rice researchers are leading an effort to ensure students who learn through braille are not left out of the research shaping literacy education.
Sugar is not uniquely bad for you. But it’s undermining good habits.
Is sugar more harmful than other carbohydrates? The evidence is far from compelling.
Scientists find evidence of vast hidden magma systems inside Mars
Researchers from the University of Oxford have uncovered evidence that Mars once hosted enormous, Earth-like magmatic systems deep beneath its surface—despite the planet lacking the plate tectonics long ...
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.
State health officials investigate Novi death, illnesses after dialysis
Police say no evidence of foul play in death, sicknesses following dialysis at DaVita.
Scientists find molecular-level evidence for two structures in liquid water
A study published in Nature Physics provides new molecular-level evidence from simulations that liquid water is not a single uniform substance, but a constantly shifting mixture of two distinct microscopic ...
Ball State Teacher Preparation Programs Earn Top Ratings in Science of Reading Reviews
Ball State University’s elementary education, early childhood education, and special education teacher preparation programs have earned top marks in two reviews focused on how well future educators are prepared to teach reading through evidence-based, scientifically grounded instruction.
Most IVF ‘add-on’ treatments have no effect on fertility or remain unproven, study says
Review shows majority of procedures offered alongside standard IVF not backed by reliable evidence
Science Will Not Save the Abortion Pill : The Hastings Center for Bioethics
The facts are not enough. In addition to using evidence, people who support the legal right to abortion must make the moral case for it.
Something in space may be changing alien signals before they can reach Earth. Scientists have a solution.
New research suggests that alien radio signals may be transformed by plasma from their home stars — and scientists on Earth could be overlooking prime evidence of alien intelligence.
OpenEvidence will add FDA-cleared AI to detect heart disease
In this edition of STAT Health Tech: OpenEvidence adds AI to detect heart disease, and Cadence raises $100 million, and more.
A sweeping new AI to detect heart conditions is coming to OpenEvidence
EchoNext, a new AI tool cleared by the FDA, will let doctors use an EKG to easily screen patients for structural heart diseases.
Meteorite reveals a lost moon-sized world from the dawn of the solar system
A rare meteorite has revealed evidence of a massive lost world that once orbited the young Sun before being destroyed in a catastrophic collision. The discovery suggests some early planets formed from dramatically different materials than Earth and Mars, rewriting part of the solar system’s origin story.
Anyone can fake a scientific image with AI, tricking even academic journals – and undermining trust in science
Several scientific fields rely on visual evidence to illustrate their claims. Inaccurate AI-generated images put the credibility of science at risk.
8 things to know about the gut microbiome and keeping yours healthy
Wellness influencers often talk about fixing a broken gut microbiome. And marketers sell tests and supplements to fix your gut health. Here's what what the evidence really shows about gut health.
What men should know about the US government's latest move on testosterone therapy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is requesting revisions to the labels on testosterone replacement therapies for men after reviewing new data and evidence on their safety and benefits.
What men should know about the US government's latest move on testosterone therapy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is requesting revisions to the labels on testosterone replacement therapies for men after reviewing new data and evidence on their safety and benefits.
Long-term health risks of e-cigarettes after smoking cessation
Nature Medicine - Real‑world evidence from a nationwide cohort suggests that using electronic cigarettes after smoking cessation may attenuate the benefits of quitting in reducing lung cancer...
Trump claims vandals damaged D.C. Reflecting Pool, and says it will be drained again
The president posted on Truth Social claiming vandals slashed the pool's lining and poured chemicals into the water, saying arrests have been made. He provided no evidence for his claims.
Cities and Schools Are Testing Wastewater for Illicit Drugs
The White House recently endorsed monitoring sewage for evidence of drug use. Critics fear such efforts could violate privacy and stigmatize neighborhoods.
Major review finds vaping likely causes lung and oral cancer
Researchers have concluded that nicotine vapes are likely to cause lung and oral cancers, based on evidence ranging from human biomarkers to animal and laboratory studies. The findings challenge the idea that vaping is a harmless alternative to smoking and suggest health risks may be emerging much sooner than many expected.
10 Father’s Day Gifts For Dad’s Health And Longevity, From A Doctor
Give dad the gift of more time this Father's Day. 10 evidence-based healthy habits and screening tests that can add over a decade to a man's life.
New evidence emerges of Diablo 4 coming to Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 owners could be getting Diablo 4 in the future based on the latest evidence that has come to light.
Trump claims vandals will force drainage of algae-plagued Reflecting Pool
(CNN) — President Donald Trump claimed Saturday, without providing evidence, that vandals damaged the algae-plagued Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and that the water will need to be drained
What men should know about the US government’s latest move on testosterone therapy
The US Department of Health and Human Services is requesting revisions to the labels on testosterone replacement therapies for men after reviewing new data and evidence on their safety and benefits. These updates could pave the way for easier access to testosterone replacement therapy.
AI lab Midjourney investing over $74M to launch whole-body ultrasound screening business
Radiologists, meanwhile, took to social media to criticize the endeavor, noting that the generative AI company lacks clinical evidence to back its marketing claims.
Black hole winds may be robbing giant galaxies of their future stars
Astronomers may be closing in on a long-standing cosmic mystery: why some of the universe’s biggest galaxies seem to have far fewer stars than expected. Using NASA- and JAXA-supported XRISM observations of a galaxy called NGC 4151, researchers found strong evidence that supermassive black holes can unleash powerful winds that blow away the raw material needed to make new stars.
Jimmy Kimmel has proof world leaders ‘hate’ Trump: ‘Saddest photo I’ve ever seen’
Jimmy Kimmel is presenting photographic evidence that world leaders 'hate' Trump after his 'increasingly childish behavior' at the G7 Summit.
Yakuza Creator's Gang of Dragon PS5 Game Really Does Seem Dead
More evidence the developer is no more
Scientists just found something weird inside moss
UC Riverside researchers have found evidence, for the first time, that desert mosses may host fungi inside their tissues. The finding offers a clue about how ancient life crawled from oceans onto dry land.
Secretary Kennedy Announces Over $700 Million in New Funding to Address Mental Illness, Addiction, Homelessness
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced a funding opportunity for the STREETS program to support recovery and evidence-based treatment.
WHO Step-by-Step programme recognized as a promising innovation for mental health in humanitarian settings
WHO, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Lebanon’s National Mental Health Programme, showcased Step-by-Step at the World Bank Group’s biennial Fragility Forum in Washington, DC. The forum convened more than 1500 representatives from governments, international organizations and civil society to advance the development agenda in the world’s most fragile and crisis-affected communities. WHO was invited to demonstrate Step-by-Step – a digital self-help intervention for depression, alongside innovations presented by Stanford University and Google. The World Bank Group selected Step-by-Step from among more than 50 innovations that they reviewed in the lead up to the Forum.About Step-by-StepStep-by-Step is a free digital tool developed by WHO in collaboration with Lebanon’s National Mental Health Programme and other partners, that helps people manage depression and anxiety on their own, with light guidance from a trained supporter. It uses a picture-based story to walk users through evidence-based techniques for managing common mental health conditions. Users complete five modules, with weekly contacts – of around 15 minutes each – from a trained non-specialist helper, such as a community health worker.Evidence-basedClinical trials in Lebanon involving nearly 1250 participants – including 680 Lebanese participants and 569 Syrian participants – showed that Step-by-Step significantly reduced depression, anxiety and stress, and improved daily functioning. By the end of the programme, a reduction in depressive symptoms of more than 50% was reported by almost half (46%) of Lebanese participants and more than one third (37%) of Syrian participants compared to approximately 14% of those who did not use the programme. Cost-effectiveness analyses further suggest that Step-by-Step may offer a cost-saving response to depression in humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries.Used globallyStep-by-Step is already in use nationwide in Lebanon and Thailand, as part of each country’s mental health system. In India, the NGO – Kaya Guides – has adapted Step-by-Step for delivery through a widely used messaging app. Together, these programmes have provided thousands of people with evidence-based support for depression. The content is freely available from the WHO website for any organization or country to adapt for their own context.A new implementation guideThe Fragility Forum coincided with the recent launch of WHO’s new practical guide: Psychological self-help interventions: delivering self-help for individuals, featuring Step-by-Step and Doing What Matters in Times of Stress (WHO, 2026). The guide is designed to help governments, health workers, organizations and planners bring evidence-based mental health support to more people, particularly in low-resource and crisis-affected settings.
The Milky Way’s black hole is eerily quiet. Scientists have now found evidence of its missing wind
Scientists have searched for wind coming from our galaxy’s supermassive black hole for 50 years. Now, researchers believe they have captured evidence of wind outflow.
The Milky Way’s black hole is eerily quiet. Scientists have now found evidence of its missing wind
Scientists have searched for wind coming from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole for 50 years. Now, researchers believe they have captured evidence.
Merchants of Doubt and the attacks on Extreme Event Attribution science
Last week, I attended a meeting at Columbia University on attribution science and climate law, hosted by the Sabin Center. It was a fantastic event, bringing together scientists and legal experts working at the intersection of extreme event attribution and climate law. Subscribe For those unfamiliar with it, extreme event attribution attempts to quantify the contribution of climate change to an extreme event. For example, several groups analyzed the impact of climate change on Hurricane Harvey’s enormous rainfall totals over Houston, Texas and they found that climate change increased rainfall by 15 to 38%. One thing that came up again and again was how terrified fossil-fuel interests are of extreme event attribution science. They are acutely aware that this research could land them in court. And losing those cases would leave them legally liable for billions of dollars in climate damages. Because the legal stakes are so high, the blowback has turned ugly. I spoke with several scientists at the meeting who are facing ongoing harassment over their work. This blowback is a coordinated campaign to make the entire field look suspect. The goal is to create the impression that attribution science is too uncertain, too political, or too conflicted to be useful in court or in public policy. The strategy is not based on actual science or evidence of misconduct, but on the generation of doubt. The new Merchants of Doubt We’ve seen this before. In fact, not that long ago: We only have to go back a year to the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group (CWG) report to see an example of using doubt as the tool to push back against well-established science. This strategy is laid out in an email from a member of the CWG, Dr. Roy Spencer, that was released during litigation over the Climate Working Group process. The key quote is: About all I can hope is that what we write will provide sufficient “reasonable scientific doubt” regarding the science claims in the 2009 TSD [technical support document], based upon almost 2 decades of new science, to call into question the original reasoning for the EPA Administrator’s decision that CO2 presents a threat to human health and welfare. This statement is strong evidence that at least some members of the committee were working to support a particular policy outcome: revoking the Endangerment Finding. The email also explains how they planned to do it: by attempting to generate “reasonable doubt”. This is going to be hard, Spencer implies. Despite falsely claiming that “2 decades of new science” weakens the case, Spencer explicitly acknowledges that the actual peer-reviewed science of climate change overwhelmingly rejects his position: But if the science argument is decided upon by a vote, or by the number of published citations, we lose the science argument. We can go back even further: This CWG email shares unmistakable DNA with the infamous 1969 tobacco memo that declared: “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.” The tobacco memo also acknowledges the limit of this strategy: Like the CWG, they knew the science was not on their side. Share The new new Merchants of Doubt The people attacking the IPCC chapter on extreme event attribution are the newest iteration of the Merchants of Doubt. Their goal, like all Merchants before them, is to introduce doubt into the process. Because the report is not even out yet, they cannot attack its conclusions. So they are attacking the authors instead. Here is a press release from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: In the letter, the Chairmen express concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving members of the Attribution Committee, stating that “publicly available information suggests a troubling pattern” in which committee members are affiliated with nonprofits that support climate accountability lawsuits, “raising the appearance of impropriety and member bias.” To be clear, this is just innuendo. There is no actual evidence of bias. And given the robust process that these reports go through, including multiple lines of peer review, it seems very unlikely that significant bias can survive into the report. When the report comes out, critics will have the opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the report — if any exist. If none do, however, they’ll still make criticisms, but they’ll be bogus, simply designed to generate doubt. We’ll see. A note to the press: Fix your frame To any journalists reading this: The public debate over extreme event attribution science is not going away. The science is simply too dangerous to fossil-fuel interests for them to stop fighting it. You very well might be assigned to write an article about this area of research in the future. When you do, do not automatically adopt the framing that climate misinformers want you to use. They want you to frame the story around questions like: Are climate scientists trying to put their thumb on the scale to achieve a predetermined, politically motivated result? Are climate scientists improperly letting their politics invade the science of the IPCC? That frame is a trap. Instead, you need to view this through the historical lens of the Merchants of Doubt. How does the ecosystem of doubt operate? Who funds it? What methods do they use to misrepresent science and slime researchers? What scientific results are they trying to keep people from understanding are legitimate? Ultimately, you instead need to focus your article on the generation of doubt as a way to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s social and legal license to keep burning oil, gas, and coal. If you treat the misinformers’ frame as a legitimate, good-faith scientific critique, you are helping them produce doubt. Don’t do it. Don’t be a Merchant of Doubt. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe other stuff The Staying Curious Substack has an interesting post about the different flavors of climate sensitivity. This is crucial information if you want to understand how scientists think about how much warming the Earth will experience. I’d be grateful if you could hit the like button ❤️ below! It helps more people discover these ideas and lets me know what’s connecting with readers.
The Courtroom Battle Over Baby Formula Isn’t About Science
A jury in a Cook County, Illinois, court awarded families $70 million in April after concluding that infant formula caused a devastating illness in premature babies. However, that conclusion hinged on a scientific theory that lacks validated evidence. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said its recent study of chemical contamination in infant formula produced by Abbott Laboratories … Continue reading "The Courtroom Battle Over Baby Formula Isn’t About Science"
15 common health myths doctors want you to stop believing
Medical misinformation persists because it sounds plausible. Here's what the evidence actually says about 15 things most people get wrong
Looking for love in all the wrong places? Learn science-backed strategies to make better connections
Relationship experts Sonja Lyubomirsky and Harry Reis offer evidence-based strategies for forging meaningful, loving ties in their book, “How To Feel Loved.”
Indiana attorney general targets abortion pill mifepristone as water risk. Health experts dispute the claim
Indiana’s Attorney General joined 13 other states to call for the EPA to classify the abortion inducing drug mifepristone as a water contaminant, arguing it could pose a health risk. Health experts say there’s no evidence for his claims.
Former Pineville employee accused of stealing over $450,000 from business
Molly Goynes was charged with theft and evidence tampering.
Gavin Newsom says Trump Justice Department is investigating him
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him, claiming that President Donald Trump is targeting a “political enemy” despite no evidence the Democratic potential 2028 presidential contender has committed a crime.
Our New Study Shows That The Science Of Cannabis And Sleep Extends Beyond THC (Op-Ed)
“We found that the strongest evidence for improving sleep was associated with cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN) and combinations of the two—but not primarily THC.” By Andrea Efre, University of South Florida College of Nursing The cannabis sleep market represents a shift away from traditional pharmaceuticals toward a natural alternative. Historically, cannabis products marketed for sleep […]
What Does Microplastics Contamination Have to Do with Creation?
New research reveals microplastics studies may be flawed, highlighting why observational science and biblical truth matter in interpreting evidence.
An ancient piece of the moon found in Africa hints at a long-ago collision that turned the lunar surface molten
A meteorite shows evidence that an ancient crash on the moon 3.5 billion years ago was so powerful, it turned the surface molten.
What COVID is teaching doctors about the relationship between viruses and cancer
The pandemic has left some evidence that viral infection may play a role in reawakening dormant cancer cells already present in a patient’s body before infection.
Vance’s fraud task force is sweeping up legitimate small businesses
The vice president and other officials have downplayed evidence of collateral damage in their crackdown on fraudulent hospices.
Politics, Pubs, Parades, and the Parish: Joan Quigley, Part II
Former Assemblywoman Joan Quigley reflects on her legislative accomplishments, including helping pass New Jersey’s DNA evidence law.
U.S. DOJ continues elections investigation, fight to audit California’s voter rolls
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said there is evidence of voter fraud as his office continues its investigation into the state’s election.
iPhone Fold, touchscreen MacBook evidence mounts in iOS 27, macOS 27
As is often the case, Apple has leaked its own hardware. Here are the signs that the folding iPhone and MacBook Pro with touchscreen are coming, and where they are.
Yellowstone wolves may not have reshaped the national park after all
One of the most celebrated claims about Yellowstone’s wolves is facing a major challenge. Scientists say the study behind the famous trophic cascade story relied on flawed methods that overstated the ecological impact of wolf recovery. Their reanalysis found no evidence for a dramatic, park-wide surge in willow growth. Instead, the effects appear smaller and vary from place to place.
Scientists discover parrots may actually use names
Parrots may be doing more than just repeating words—they may actually use names. By analyzing hundreds of recordings from pet parrots, researchers found evidence that many birds use specific names to identify particular people, animals, and even individual companions. Some parrots appeared to refer to someone who wasn’t present, while others used names in creative ways, such as saying their own name to grab attention.