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Nutritional supplement may improve blood vessel health markers, trial suggests
A new study suggests that a multi-component supplement, containing ingredients that target processes related to aging, may improve markers of vascular health.
Wisconsin infant is US’ third measles-related death this week
An infant in Wisconsin has died in connection with an large, ongoing measles outbreak, the state health department said Thursday. The death marks the state’s first measles-related death in more than 35 years and the third reported in the US this week.
First flu-related death of the season reported in Sacramento County, health officials say
Sacramento County Public Health reported its first flu-related death of the 2026-2027 season, the agency reported Wednesday.
For the Rams, one player leaves as another enters?
Jaylen Watson is out, Myles Garrett is supposed to be on the mend and more NFL related news on a Thursday
AI Lost Big in the Midterms. What Does That Mean for Your Business?
The message of the “AI midterms” is that technology policy has become an electoral issue, not just a regulatory one. In the U.S., the longstanding embrace of “permissionless innovation” may be fading. If that’s the case, technology companies and their customers face a rapidly changing political environment. What should business leaders do? Many will continue to follow individual bills, lawsuits, elections, and agency proceedings as separate events. This is an essential element of any business’s strategy. But standing alone, it misses the larger picture of how these activities affect each other. Leaders should put together a team to follow six battleground issues: liability for tech-related harms, privacy and data access, competition, infrastructure, public subsidies and other government resources, and preemption and overlapping authority.
Scientists discover mysterious “lonely” brain waves linked to memory loss
Scientists have uncovered a surprising link between Alzheimer’s-related protein buildup, disrupted brain waves during deep sleep, and fading memory. The findings suggest that hidden changes in how the brain processes memories overnight may contribute to age-related memory loss long before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.
Economic Development Director Announces Quarterly “Rochester Business Exchange” to Connect Business Owners with Local Government, Other Resources
Rochester Economic Development Director Michael Scala is pleased to announce “Rochester Business Exchange,” an informal discussion connecting municipal officials and staff, developers, and business owners and managers to share information, exchange ideas, discuss local issues, and strengthen relationships within Rochester’s business community. The purpose of the meetings is to share updates related to municipal government,...
When papers become currency: a Chinese debate about trust in science
Last Saturday, 31 October, I went to the University of Hong Kong’s Beijing Centre for its Talent Forum. It was the fourth stop in the series this year, following events in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang, Shenzhen’s Qianhai, and on HKU’s main campus. The programme covered a remarkable distance in one afternoon. HKU’s Xiao-Jing Wang discussed computational neuroscience, intelligence, and the prefrontal cortex—before even delivering his inaugural public lecture to students back in Hong Kong. His colleague Bing Zhang took us from the Big Bang to artificial intelligence. Tsinghua’s Xue Lan asked how AI might reshape the institutional infrastructure underpinning higher education. There were lively panels featuring industry leaders from JD.com, Xiaomi, Haier—and Kaiser Y Kuo on the closing panel discussing innovation and international connections. I cannot pretend to have followed every detail of the brain models or the astrophysics. The talk that stayed with me was closer to something we have covered before: Zhou Zhonghe 周忠和 on papers, evaluation, and scientific trust. Zhou is a palaeontologist, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He is also editor-in-chief of The Intellectual (知识分子), China’s leading science commentary platform. His subject was uncomfortable enough for a room full of successful academics: what happens when the system for recognising good science starts rewarding something else? Part of my interest came from our sister newsletter, The East is Read, which covered the controversy around “Geng Tongxue” in May. A PhD dropout from Beihang University, Geng has publicly challenged papers by prominent researchers through detailed online allegations of manipulated images and fabricated data. At Tongji University, an investigation into a challenged Nature paper found academic misconduct, and the dean of its life sciences school was removed. The affair brought doubts about academic integrity well beyond laboratories and university committees. How could someone outside the established hierarchy spot problems in papers that had passed through prestigious journals and institutions? And what, exactly, had all that prestige guaranteed? Zhou approached these questions through two essays published in July by The Intellectual: one by Wang Xiaodong, director of the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, and a response by Wang Liming, of Shanghai’s Shangsi Institute of Natural Sciences. Both began with the controversy over Geng. Their arguments deserve a wider audience, so I want to put parts of them alongside what Zhou said on Saturday. Wang Xiaodong’s starting point is evolution. A research system selects for the behaviour it rewards. Grants, jobs, journals, talent programmes, and prizes collectively determine which scientists prosper and which practices get passed down from advisors to students. “Whatever the system rewards is what it will evolve to produce,” he writes, citing the ancient Chinese saying: The King of Chu loved slender waists, and many in the palace starved to death. That is a more demanding diagnosis than saying there are dishonest people in science. Punishing a fraudster does not change the selective environment that made a particular kind of research profitable. His account also gives scientific success an awkward role in the story. As Zhou put it on Saturday, science became a victim of its own success. Once research became central to industry, national power, and economic growth, universities and laboratories expanded, and public money followed. That created an administrative need for rapid decisions: who should get the next grant, the next laboratory, the next appointment? The difficulty is that the true value of a discovery may take years or decades of testing and building to become clear. Resource allocation cannot wait that long. Publication counts, journal prestige, impact factors, and citations therefore become convenient ways to make an instant judgement. “The real problem is not that these indicators have no value,” Wang Xiaodong writes, “but that they are trying to answer a question that only time can answer.” Telling administrators simply to stop counting papers will never be enough. They still have budgets to distribute and appointments to make. Something has to replace the shortcut. Zhou described the consequences inside publishing. Papers acquire ever more requirements: a complete story, polished presentation, extensive datasets, and accessibility to readers beyond the immediate field. Individually, those demands sound reasonable. Together, he warned, they produce formulaic “eight-legged” papers 八股文 and rigid reviewing, while genuinely original or non-consensus work struggles to get past journal editors—some of whom wield immense gatekeeping power despite having limited laboratory experience themselves. Meanwhile, the demands for sprawling, “complete” narratives have fuelled a wider replication crisis. Wang Xiaodong uses a mahjong metaphor to describe the result: put the complex papers published by the exact same lab over several years side by side, and they often look like “Thirteen Orphans” (十三不靠)—every tile completely unrelated to the next, and none of them reproducible by outsiders. Zhou also spoke frankly as an editor who has trouble finding reviewers. Everyone wants someone else to review their work; qualified senior researchers have little time to return the favour. The labour is anonymous, unpaid, and brings almost no institutional recognition, so it increasingly gets passed down to postdocs and graduate students. And while anonymity protects reviewers from rank and personal favours, hyper-specialisation means an author’s most qualified reviewer is often a direct competitor, shielded from accountability. The protection and the problem coexist. Wang Liming takes the argument a step further. The decisive change, in his essay, is the instant conversion of academic honour into material resources. Once a paper can be cashed in for funding, a job, students, commercial investment, or even a company valuation, scientists are alienated from their work: they must keep minting this “research currency” to keep their teams alive. He is careful not to romanticise the past. The old world of gentleman scientists—financially independent figures like Boyle and Darwin who needed nothing from external funders—was also a closed club that excluded people without inherited wealth, women, and much of humanity outside the West. Professional science allowed ordinary people, himself included, to become researchers. Nobody should want to undo that. The problem, in his account, is an exchange system that becomes too uniform and too difficult to correct. His most pointed Chinese example is the “hat” (帽子): the prestigious talent designation that brings continuing access to money, laboratory space, students, and institutional influence. “If papers are the circulating currency of the research system, then a ‘hat’ is a bond that pays interest over the long term,” he writes. A paper at least requires another round of peer review. A title in the Chinese context can lock in a judgement made years ago and turn it into permanent status rent, regardless of whether its holder is still doing good science. Here, official institutions hire, organise, and evaluate scientists. Unlike honours awarded by autonomous academic communities in the West, a Chinese “hat” blends non-scientist administrative power with state authority. Once granted, it turns a past judgement into permanent status rent that is nearly impossible to revoke—because taking a hat off would imply that official authority erred in putting it on. Both Wangs see China as experiencing, at compressed speed, pressures present across global science. Research expansion, rising investment, publication growth, and elaborate evaluation metrics arrived in China within two or three decades rather than two or three centuries. Zhou agreed with that international framing—noting that recent US White House science policy documents and the new president of the US National Academy of Sciences, a fellow palaeontologist who recently visited Zhou’s institute in Beijing, have raised strikingly similar warnings about consensus-bound peer review, short-term project grants, and the replication crisis. Still, Zhou emphasised that China’s traditional hierarchy, personal networks (guanxi), and the ethos that “a good scholar becomes an official” (学而优则仕) amplify those pressures at home. So what would change things? Here Zhou’s tone differed from the call for a revolution in scientific trust in Wang Xiaodong’s essay. As an evolutionary biologist, Zhou favoured patchwork repair (修修补补). Living systems survive through accumulated adjustments; dramatic mutations are usually fatal. Science cannot return to a small, slow-moving pastoral era, especially after the successive accelerations of professionalisation after the Second World War, the internet, and now artificial intelligence. But it can alter the local environment in which researchers work. He pointed to domestic experiments designed to support unconventional research and diversify funding, including Tencent’s New Cornerstone Investigator Program, the Xplorer Prize, and the Future Science Prize. He also mentioned participating in reviews for “major non-consensus projects” under the National Natural Science Foundation of China. One guiding principle he recalled was wonderfully direct: “Failure is allowed; corruption is not” (允许失败，不允许腐败). That distinction would mean quite a lot if taken seriously. An honest attempt that fails should not have to disguise itself as a success to survive an assessment. Wang Liming’s essay adds a sharp caveat to the optimism about new domestic funders. Multiple organisations do not automatically produce multiple ways of judging science. If the same pool of senior domestic scientists makes the decisions through the same two-round review procedures, it is still “fake diversity.” He argues for three distinct kinds of money: broad baseline funding governed by fair procedures; patient funding for questions that take ten years; and non-consensus funding based on individual taste, deliberately empowering a few genuine experts to make biased, contrarian bets on eccentric ideas that would inevitably be averaged out by a committee. Replacing one monopoly with another achieves little; a healthy ecosystem needs variance. Zhou’s proposals for publishing were similarly concrete: strip papers of their resource-allocation burden and return them to recording discoveries and establishing priority; separate dissemination from evaluation, as eLife and Peer Community In do; adopt more modular “micro-publications” and real-name endorsements; recognize the labour of editors and reviewers; and give replication work proper credit rather than treating it as an unpublishable dead end. AI makes every part of this debate more urgent—and Zhou wove it throughout his talk. In his own preparation, he used AI to survey the declining influence of academic monographs, noting how tools are already changing how scholars gather information. More fundamentally, he placed AI as the latest great acceleration in scientific history: just as the internet sped up the pace of research and tightened external resource pressures, AI is compressing the cycle again. In the essays Zhou cited, AI cuts both ways. Wang Xiaodong expects large language models to erase much of the English-writing disadvantage long faced by Chinese scientists, further swelling the flood of papers coming out of Chinese labs. Wang Liming sees AI accelerating both ends of the trust crisis: it lowers the cost of paper mills and fabricated images just as quickly as it lowers the cost of automated image forensics, data auditing, and code reproduction. “Whoever builds the verification layer wins,” Wang Liming writes. His proposed alternative to the static, packaged “story paper” is a continuously versioned “unit of discovery” containing a falsifiable claim, raw data, analysis code, experimental parameters, and an ongoing log of independent checks—where negative results and failed replications are recorded rather than buried. Zhou ended his keynote by bringing AI back to the question of scientific honour and credit. Citing a recent Intellectual discussion on “What AI Means for Mathematics” featuring Fields Medalist Deng Yu 邓煜—at a moment when AI is already batch-solving mathematical conjectures, as HKU Vice-President Lin Chen noted in his opening remarks—Zhou agreed that human researchers must remain the principal agents: AI is a tool that frees scientists from tedious calculation to think about deeper, messier real-world problems. Yet that partnership creates a thorny new evaluation problem. When a breakthrough is made with AI, what is the human contribution and what is the machine’s? And since AI models distil centuries of accumulated human scholarship, is it right that the credit and value flow so heavily to the private AI companies building the tools? The old struggle over how to assign scientific honour is acquiring a whole new layer. What I took away was a serious discussion of how science can remain trustworthy as its scale, incentives, and tools change. These were scientists with real standing inside China’s system questioning how that standing is produced, and proposing changes that would affect their own institutions and peers. That made the afternoon at HKU’s Beijing Centre worthwhile. At the close, Wang Feng, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at HKU, said the value of the forum series—which heads to Hangzhou in December and cities like Chengdu early next year—would lie in the real cooperation it helped bring about. The university has plenty to celebrate: this week it topped the QS Asia rankings for a second consecutive year, alongside its 11th-place position in the QS World University Rankings 2027. For me, bringing this debate to an audience beyond the people who review papers and allocate grants was a useful contribution. Share [ The East is Read PhD dropout’s exposé forces an academic fraud reckoning in China A former doctoral student turned blogger has shaken China’s academic establishment by publicly accusing prominent university scholars of fabricating data and manipulating papers, triggering investigations at several leading institutions and drawing rare attention from state media… Read more 5 months ago · 43 likes · 8 comments · Yuxuan JIA ](https://www.eastisread.com/p/phd-dropouts-expose-forces-an-academic?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web&embedding_publication_id=47580)
Voters approved two sex-based school sports measures, defeated one measure on medical procedures for transgender minors; three remain uncalled
Voters in five states decided six ballot measures related to sex-based sports eligibility and medical procedures for transgender minors in 2026. Here are the results and what they mean. As of 2:15 PM EST on Nov. 4, of the four measures to establish sex-based requirements for school sports, two passed, and two were not called […]
Pennsylvania health officials confirm a sixth measles-related death
Pennsylvania health officials are still investigating a seventh death reported by Franklin County’s coroner last month.
How Science and the Environment Fared in the 2026 U.S. Midterms
Science was on the ballot across the United States in Tuesday’s midterm elections. On federal, state, and municipal levels, hundreds of people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine ran for office. Americans also voted on measures related to conservation projects, pollutant abatement, healthcare access, and environmental reviews.
Science to Advance Soil Health and Future Directions:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Researchers, students, and professionals working in soil science, environmental science, agriculture, and related fields will gather in Gainesville, Florida, on December 4,...
Turkey flood losses hit $229M
Insured losses related to the Oct. 14 and 15 floods in Turkey have reached at least 11.5 billion Turkish lira ($229 million), with Istanbul accounting for 90% of the total, according to the Insurance…
HOMETOWN HEALTH: Cannabis involved in most substance-related ER visits for teens, study finds
Cannabis-related emergency room visits also are rising among adults ages 19 to 24.
A surprising discovery could help aging muscles repair themselves
Scientists have discovered a compound that transforms a natural muscle-repair protein into a more powerful version dubbed "Super HGF," more than doubling its ability to bind to a key receptor while protecting it from age-related chemical damage. The breakthrough, supported by early mouse experiments, could eventually help combat muscle loss and preserve strength as people age.
Workshop will explore “Placing HIV Back at the Heart of the Health and Development Agenda”
A workshop and multi-stakeholder dialogue “Placing HIV Back at the Heart of the Health and Development Agenda: The Role and Leadership of Religious Actors in Addressing Financial and Gender-Related Challenges,” is underway from 4-6 November in Lomé, Togo.
SatPort Acquires Speedcast’s Teleport Business
SatPort Infrastructure has completed the acquisition of Speedcast’s teleport business, including 12 teleports and related infrastructure. SatPort, which
Federal Bill Would Bar Certain Website Tracking Litigation Plaguing Businesses – What You Need to Know
New federal legislation would give businesses some relief from a recent deluge of litigation targeting commonplace website tracking tools like cookies and tracking pixels. The Halt Abusive Internet Lawsuits Act, introduced by Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) in September, would bar lawsuits brought under federal and state wiretapping and related surveillance laws for the collection, processing, or disclosure of information when it is used for a commercial purpose. If passed, the legislation would significantly reduce exposure for businesses small and large who have faced expensive litigation for utilizing everyday website tools. Here’s what you need to know about the bill and its chances of becoming law – and some steps you can take while we wait to see what happens.
Your Website May Be Sharing Health Data Even If You’re Not a Healthcare Company: 7 Steps to Take After Landmark Appeals Court Ruling
In what appears to be the first federal appellate decision addressing pixel tracking on a health-related website, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just revived a class action accusing an eyewear retailer of sharing its website visitors’ health information with a social media company. In its October 23 Rand v Eyesmart decision, the 5th Circuit held that everyday shopping and scheduling activity on a healthcare-adjacent website can possibly count as protected health information, even when customers never typed in a diagnosis or symptom. For businesses like optical chains, pharmacies, dental practices, wellness providers, and telehealth platforms, the decision means higher litigation risk tied to particular data flows and identification practices, rather than a categorical prohibition on website analytics or advertising tools. Here’s what happened, what the court decided, and seven steps to consider now.
Who Controls Enterprise AI Agents? Data Platform Vendors Race to Provide the Answer
AI agents are everywhere. Every other news story is related somehow to AI agents. As more companies are starting to use AI agents, keeping track of what they’re doing isn’t so straightforward. Dataiku launched Agent Management in September, and Oracle spent part of its AI World conference in October talking about how businesses can keep […]
Losing the Endangerment Finding: Air-Quality and Health Impacts of Recent and Proposed Regulatory Rollbacks
The repeal of standards for light-duty vehicles and power plants will increase air pollution that contributes to death and disease, adding to the already substantial forgone climate-related benefits of these regulations by about $780 billion.
New York state reports first measles -related child death in over 30 years
The death comes as the US experiences its worst measles resurgence in decades.
Trump Effort to Prove Rampant Noncitizen Voting Leads to Few Charges So Far
Just 236 people have been charged with voting-fraud-related offenses by the Trump administration, despite its unsubstantiated claims that fraud is widespread.
Brandon McGinley: There's more to life than politics
Today is Election Day and you should vote if you haven’t already. But you should also do something in the real world not related to politics. Because...
What Universal Health Services Stock's Behavioral Health Expansion Means For Shareholders
Universal Health Services reported third quarter 2026 sales of US$4,733.35 million and net income of US$308.68 million, while confirming plans to expand its behavioral health footprint through Talkspace and new outpatient programs and addressing a tentative settlement related to Cumberland Hospital. The mix of higher reported sales, lower quarterly earnings, growing outpatient behavioral capacity and a legal reserve impact provides investors with additional detail on how Universal Health...
Child in New York dies after contracting measles, governor says
A child in Lewis County, New York, has died after contracting measles, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Monday. It is the state’s first measles-related death in 30 years.
Fifa to share confidential sell-off plan documents
Fifa has informed members of its Council that they will be granted access to view some documents related to president Gianni Infantino's failed plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
WHO Global Preparedness and Response to El Niño-Related Public Health Risks and Emergencies - Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan
in English on World; published on 2 Nov 2026 by WHO
Learning to LEAP: Building business confidence for nature-related assessment and disclosure
Nature loss is a material business risk. Companies increasingly face expectations from investors, regulators, customers and clients to understand and manage their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. Yet for many organizations, the challenge is not awareness of nature-related disclosures but their implementation in a focused, practical and business-relevant way. Learning to LEAP draws
South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare to sell women's health product in Europe to Ennogen
By Nqobile Dludla JOHANNESBURG, Nov 2 (Reuters) - South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare will sell the European commercialisation rights and related intellectual property for its women's health product
New law boosting mental health care for 911 dispatchers seen as landmark in public safety circles
Newly approved state legislation that classifies emergency dispatchers as first responders is a milestone for mental health care, according to public safety officials in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The bill widens access to wellness services and provides coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder related to routine, but often disturbing, calls that
Energy drinks linked to higher risk of cardiac arrest in young adults, study finds
Adverse events related to the heart were far more common for energy drinks and stimulant supplements than other FDA-regulated products.
Tampa police investigate vandalism at two Seminole Heights businesses
A quiet Halloween night turned into a troubling morning for two Seminole Heights businesses after both were left with damaged windows. One business owner says she was shaken by what she saw on surveillance video, and Tampa police are looking into whether the incidents are related.
Offseason open chat and discussion: November 1
In case you haven’t noticed, clocks went back an hour. Hello, 4 pm darkness. Some actual Braves-related news from the weekend: And BravesVision starts bringing you some evening programming:
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month: UCI Health Medical, Surgical, Radiation Clinicians Available to Comment About Pancreatic Cancer, New Treatment Options
Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Orange County, can offer hope for patients and families Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the nation and about 8% of all cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Yet, pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2040, according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The Foo
Doctor welcoming medical businesses to his Viera plaza
Dr. Saminder Singh has opened his primary care and family medicine practice at Addison Medical Center at Viera, and he’s inviting other medical-related businesses to join him at his new
Some olive oils are pricey and some are cheap. What are the health differences?
Health experts discuss how certain production methods for the less expensive brands of olive oil could be stripping it of its health-related qualities. Here are the differences.
Flathead Business Watercooler
Events happening related to business in the Flathead Valley
Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening election officials with criminal charges
The Justice Department recently sent letters to state and local election officials across the country warning them of criminal penalties related to failing to comply with records retention.
Small Business Administration issues Disaster Declarations due to wildfire-related events in 14 Colorado Counties - by Susan Roebuck
On October 22, 2026, Governor Jared Polis requested the Small Business Administration (SBA) issue disaster declarations for the Willow Fire, the Elk Fire,
The ‘Borges protein’ reveals how to alleviate age-related memory loss
A monumental study involving millions of fruit flies shows that the same type of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases are involved in forming memories, and points to how to protect them in old age
Contract Projections for top Rays free agents
Former General Manger Jim Bowden’s annual free agency column at the Athletic offers the keenest insights into contract projections out there. Usually this exercise is something skippable for Rays fans, as the likelihood the team will be spending top dollar is fairly low, but there’s an unusually high number of Rays-related free agents on the […]
Science Begins With Wonder and Sometimes With a Salamander.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Don & Beth Straus Center at Birch Bay Village. BAR HARBOR—The children had come to see the axolotls, those odd little salamanders with pink frills around their heads and the remarkable ability to grow back what they lose. But also there were stickers. There were crafts. There was the kind of excitement that makes a roomful of kindergarteners forget, for a little while, that sitting still is ever a requirement. And then there were the animals themselves, alive in their clear cases at the MDI Biological Laboratory, where 12 children from Pemetic Elementary School got to meet the creatures they had been learning about in class. “Do you love them?” their teacher, Carol Null, asked. The answer came back in a chorus. “I do!” “I do!” “I do too,” Null said, smiling. “I love them even more now.” That was the thing about a day at the lab. Science was no longer a picture in a book, or a word on a classroom wall. It had a face, a tail, and a set of extraordinary powers. And for a child, sometimes that is where wonder begins. Sometimes learning about science is about stickers. Sometimes it’s about bright pink feathers and getting super excited about that glow in the dark. Sometimes learning about science is joy—pure and simple joy. That’s how it was October 28 at the MDI Bio Lab as Miss Hannah (known in the lab as Dr. Hannah Lust, director of STEM, undergraduate and graduate Training), other scientists, graduate students, and MDI Bio Lab staff, hosted 12 students from Carol Null’s Pemetic Elementary School’s kindergarten class. The 2.5-hour program created by Dr. Lust focused on axolotls, a species of mole salamanders, a superhero in the animal world: a superhero with some scientific-study worthy superpowers. One of those superpowers come from the axolotls’ ability to regenerate body parts, including entire limbs. But also, they’re cute. This fall, before coming to the internationally renowned lab nestled in Salsbury Cove, Null has been integrating axolotls into her class. They’ve been part of the kids’ vocabulary and their storytelling. They’ve been part of science. They’ve been part of the children’s learning about facts vs opinions. The Pemetic Elementary kindergarten students learn about invasive species and the impact on the ecology and one student related it to their dad, who lobsters, and his worries about green craps, an invasive species in Maine. “Are they bigger or smaller than you thought they’d be?” the children are asked after the scientists show them multiple see-through cases of axolotls, lined up on a table that they’re told not to jiggle. “Bigger!” “I think they’re bigger.” “Smaller!” The bio lab opening its doors to the collaborations and to students and families is a norm, but this is the first program of this kind. It’s meant to encourage kindergarten students about axolotls. But when the students come to the bio lab something else happens too—something beyond Null’s child-focused teaching—the students see science—and the regenerating creatures in real life. They do crafts. They speak with them. They meet people who know all about them: scientists and educators who talk to the kids like they’re equals. That’s a superhero power, too. Null speaks about meeting the kids where they’re at in her classroom, letting their interest and hearts lead her in their learning. That requires recognition of interests, of individuality, of empathy. Some would argue that’s a super power, too, but it’s also in those 12 students as they listen to the storybook, encounter those live axolotls, and hear about how axolotls might help advance society’s understanding of human health. As Eddie Seckeler (comparative animal models, CORE facility manager), carefully puts the axolotls on a cart and rolls them away, some of the children stop what they’re doing to watch. “Bye axolotls.” “Bye!” “Bye!” The axolotls are not just images in a book, Hello, I’m an axolotl by Hayley and John Rocco; they are real and cool. MDI Biological Laboratory scientists Dr. Prayag Murawala and Dr. James Godwin who both feature in the Roccos’ book. The kindergarteners get to meet them in real life, off the page, in the world, doing science. They learn from them, laugh with them. “The visit is about more than meeting an unusual animal. By introducing children to scientists working in their own community, the experience helps make science tangible and accessible. Students can see that science is not just something they read about in books or learn about at school. It is something real people do every day by asking questions, making observations and working to understand how the world works,” explains MDI Biological Laboratory Director of Communications Rebecca Woods. While the students make axolotl-related crafts around tables, graduate students and staff help out. Ryan holds up his construction paper setting and axolotl to show Omar Maged, a graduate student. “Do you like it?” Ryan asks, eyes wide, turning from his axolotl to look up at Omar. Omar studies the construction paper for a moment, smiles and says definitively, each word important. “It is beautiful.” Null says that she’s so thankful for all the “amazing” community partners that her school and her students get to interact with as they learn and grow and live, but emphasized how the MDI Bio Lab goes out of its way to create something meaningful, something that allows her young students to build their own agency, to know that they can be impactful in their community, to show them how how things they learn about in text is connected to themselves and their community. Woods explains, “Axolotls have an extraordinary ability to regenerate, or regrow, certain body parts, including limbs. Scientists study these animals to understand how regeneration works and what their biology might teach us about tissue repair and healing in humans.” The children enter the space for “a memorable introduction to a big scientific question,” Woods said. “How can some animals regrow body parts? The encounter encourages children to look closely, wonder about what they see and begin to understand how scientists use observations and experiments to investigate questions.” “For the students, the visit is an opportunity to explore a fascinating animal and meet scientists in their own community,” Woods explains. “For MDI Biological Laboratory, it is a chance to share the excitement of research, nurture curiosity, and help young learners discover that science begins with asking questions.“ At the beginning of the school year, Pemetic kindergarteners didn’t know what the axolotl was—at least not exactly—now they know all about the axolotl’s life cycle. “It’s different than a butterfly,” one student told Mrs. Null. It is. The change and knowledge might seem small**,** but it offers a glimpse of what happens when a subject moves beyond the pages of a book and into a child’s world. The children have been learning about butterflies at the Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden. At both the garden and the MDI Bio Lab, the children see the animals, meet the scientists who study them and at the lab encounter a question that researchers are still working to answer: how can some creatures regenerate body parts, and what might that teach us about healing in humans? They leave with gift bags, paper-plate salamanders, new things to wonder about and a connection between the science they learn in school and the work happening in their own community. The axolotls may be remarkable for their ability to grow back what they have lost. For these young students, the day offers something different: a chance to discover how much there is to ask, observe, and imagine. When Null’s students had time to use chalk and draw whatever they want, in the beginning of the year, they drew rainbows. Now? They’re using that chalk and choosing to draw axolotls instead. About MDI Bio Laboratory For more than 125 years, MDI Bio Lab has been a center for training and research in comparative biology. In the last two decades its biomedical research has focused on aging, regeneration, and environmental toxins. The Laboratory houses 11 research groups staffed by an international team of world-class scientists and graduate students. It also leads a statewide network of colleges, universities and research institutions that collaborate to provide training, research experiences and financial support to help young Mainers play a bigger role in today’s biomedical revolution. Located on Maine’s rugged coast, the Laboratory’s 100+ acre campus houses research facilities, cottages and dorms that house visiting scientists and students. It is also home to MDI Bioscience, a subsidiary working to design innovative techniques to speed the drug discovery process. The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art. LINKS TO LEARN MORE NIH INBRE MDI BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY Pemetic Elementary School Hello, I’m an Axolotl Photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other. We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going. If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship. It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light. Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now. Thank you so much for being here. Founding member information can be found here. Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you. Subscribe Share Bar Harbor Story Share Leave a comment
Covenant Health reaches settlement in data breach lawsuit
Eligible patients can be paid up to $5,000 to cover documented losses related to the data breach.
Global trading is mixed as worries about AI-related issues grow
Global trading is mixed as worries about the future of artificial intelligence grow after Alphabet’s stock drop dragged on U.S. markets. Shares rose in France and Britain early Friday but
Why sports bar owners are hedging against the teams they love
Some local businesses that rely on sports-related sales are using prediction markets as a form of insurance against potential lost revenue.
Las Vegas Sports Jobs Have More Than Doubled in a Decade, UNLV Data Shows
Updated CBER dashboard reveals nearly 19,000 regional sports-related jobs, $860 million in annual visitor spending, and growing youth participation.
Minnesota's 80 measles cases this year are the most since 1990, health officials say
Google Sends Major Updates to All of Its Google Home, Nest , Streamer Devices
Google is back this week updating all of its Google Home-related products, from the app and Gemini for Home to the hardware it still supports. On the hardware side of things, we’re seeing updates for the Chromecast with Google TV, Nest WiFi and Nest WiFi Pro, and its Nest and Google Home Speakers. These updates...
Bally’s Corporation Comments on The Star Entertainment Group AUSTRAC Decision and Continued Turnaround
PROVIDENCE, R.I., October 29, 2026--Bally’s Corporation (NYSE: BALY) today commented on the Federal Court of Australia’s decision in the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre ("AUSTRAC") proceedings against subsidiaries of The Star Entertainment Group Limited ("The Star") related to historical violations of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
A single brain signal may explain schizophrenia's most puzzling symptoms
Scientists have identified a weakened brain signal that may connect several seemingly unrelated symptoms of schizophrenia, including sensory processing difficulties, disorganized speech, and greater symptom severity. The surprising discovery could help explain the disorder's underlying mechanisms and potentially lead to earlier detection and new treatments.
Jones County welcomes new mental health liaison
Emma Smith, who works for Foundation 2 Crisis Services, is Jones County’s first mental health liaison. She’ll respond to mental health-related 911 calls, follow up with people who have mental health needs, collaborate with school resource officers and supplement the mental health work done by county law enforcement.
Scott Bessent says he's not concerned with AI-related debt
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said AI-related debt was contained to a small part of the AI ecosystem, and he wasn't concerned..
China's Pinghu Strengthens Business Ties with Italy
PINGHU, China, Oct. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pinghu, a city in Zhejiang Province near Shanghai, is looking to expand its business links with Italy, with a focus on the luggage and apparel markets and the development of overseas warehouses for local enterprises. Pinghu Economic Development Zones Map The initiative is intended to help businesses in Pinghu explore opportunities in Italy and support their international trade activities. Fashion and related manufacturing industries are among Ping
Iowa Clinic considers ending partnership with UnityPoint Health in Des Moines
The Iowa Clinic has notified UnityPoint Health of a potential split starting in 2027, citing unresolved issues related to contracts, patient care operations and communication.
Call For New WHO Instrument To Address Climate-Driven Global Health Emergency
A decade after the Paris Agreement took effect, climate-related heat, drought, floods, disease and dirty air are killing millions. The authors of a major
Connecticut health department announces 6 flu-related deaths since September
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) announced Wednesday that six people have died from influenza since late September. According to CT DPH, all six Connec…
Idaho hands out $186 million in rural health grants — and another $186 million is on the way
More than $20 million of the first-year grants will go into education-related initiatives. Other education programs remain in limbo.
Arch Capital’s profit falls 23%
Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd.’s third-quarter net income fell 23% year on year to $1 billion, driven by catastrophe losses related to the Iran conflict and lower underwriting income across its…
Touchscreen MacBook Pro's New Hinge Linked to iPhone Duo 2
Apple's upcoming touchscreen MacBook Pro will feature hinge improvements related to changes planned for future iPhone Duo models, according to a last-minute claim ahead of its expected announcement later today. In a new Weibo post, the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital" said that one of the new MacBook Pro's key upgrades is its hinge design. The improved design is apparently related to plans for the second- and third-generation iPhone Duo.
Scientists discover a hidden reason why muscles weaken with age
Scientists have uncovered a hidden defense mechanism in aging muscles that sacrifices strength to protect cells from damage. In mice, partially restoring a crucial molecule reversed signs of muscle wasting and prevented premature death, raising hopes for new treatments for age-related muscle decline.
Landlords have spent $77K to unseat San Diego councilman. Two local business groups say their $45K donation is unrelated.
Leaders at those local groups say their donations have nothing to do with the late push to oust first-term Councilman Henry Foster.
UCLA expands campus vending machines to offer 24/7 access to health essentials
UCLA announced this month that it will expand the number and operating hours of essential health vending machines on campus. The Be Well Bruin Express – launched by UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center and UCLA’s Health Education and Resource Team in partnership with UCLA Vending Services – is stocked with a variety of health-related products and operates 24 hours a day outside the Ashe Center.
Blizzard said it wouldn't sell real-money World of Warcraft housing items tied to player races. It lied.
World of Warcraft's housing feature stirs controversy by selling new premium decor items tied to the Kul Tiran player race, going against Blizzard's word that race-related decor items won't be sold for real money
Midterm Election Update: Immigrant Health Policy
Immigration restrictions and enforcement are central to the Trump administration’s domestic agenda and a focus of debate in the 2026 midterm elections. These policies have ripple effects on health care: immigration-related fears are leading some immigrant families to avoid medical care and drop coverage, including for U.S. citizen children, and visa restrictions could strain a health care workforce that relies on immigrants. Federal law has also narrowed eligibility for health coverage among lawfully present immigrants, and states are responding in different ways.
Encompass Health Corporation (EHC) Helped Drive Madison Small Cap Fund’s Healthcare Outperformance in Q3 2026
Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Small Cap Fund” Q3 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Fund outperformed its small-cap benchmarks during the third quarter of 2026, despite a challenging environment for quality-focused investors as speculative AI-related stocks retreated, inflation remained persistent, and rising bond yields […]
Why AI legal liability should be a red flag for health systems
Legal experts say health systems need to be proactive about AI-related legal risks.
JYP Entertainment soars 10% on reports of tender offer plan to buy up to half of firm
South Korean pop music agency JYP Entertainment's KRX:035900 shares jumped 10% on Tuesday after Korean media reported Japan's Nexroc Group and related firm SVCV Inc were planning to announce a tender offer to buy up to a 50% stake in the company.The 50% stake is worth about 700 billion won ($528.04…
Business briefs, Oct, 27
The data-related changes needed for senior living to attract capital, consumer trust … JoyThriveCare introduces voice-enabled smart home solution designed for senior living … Fitch rates Presbyterian Retirement Communities at A-; outlook stable … Fitch Ratings downgrades Willow Valley Communities to A-; outlook stable
FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem (FFR) Completes Acquisition of FFAI Robotics Business, Establishing a Nasdaq-Listed Humanoid and Bionic Robotics Platform October Robot Sales Expected to Exceed 300 Units; Unveils FF OmniMind, a Unified AI Brain for All Robots
FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem Inc. (NASDAQ: FFR) ("FFR" or the "Company") a U.S.-based Embodied AI robotics company, today announced at the deal closing and its first Investor Day event in New York that it has completed its acquisition of the robotics business and related assets of Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (NASDAQ: FFAI) ("FFAI" or "Faraday Future") on October 23, 2026. The related business operations and assets have been transferred to FFR, and FFR has issued and delivered common sh
Equities end higher as Anthropic’s IPO filing buoys AI stocks
Anthropic's IPO filing lifts us stocks and AI-related shares amid a week of key economic data and corporate earnings reports.
Denver Health Medical Plan Discloses Vendor Breach Affecting 238K Members
Denver Health Medical Plan has notified more than 238,000 individuals about a vendor-related data incident. Data breaches have also been announced by Denver Health Medical Plan has notified more than 238,000 individuals about a vendor-related data incident. Data breaches have also been announced by Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and BASS Medical Group.
What Do the Midterm Election Results Mean for Health Care?
On November 5 at Noon ET, join KFF for a special post-election discussion and live podcast taping on these topics and more. KFF experts and journalists will provide analysis and insights about what the election results could mean for health policy and take audience questions. Part of the discussion will focus on public opinion survey data on how voters weighed health care as they went to the polls nationally and in the four states with abortion-related ballot initiatives.
How to Manage Symptoms of Heart Failure
(Feature Impact) Americans are facing a growing health challenge, with 1 in 4 adults at risk of heart failure, according to the Heart Failure Society of America. Additionally, approximately 6.7 million U.S. adults who are 20 years old or older are currently living with heart failure, and that number is projected to reach 8.7 million by 2030. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article_300x250'); }); Managing heart failure is a significant expense to the U.S. healthcare system, costing the nation approximately $40 billion in 2020 and expected to increase to approximately $142 billion a year by 2050.If you (or a loved one) are living with the condition, consider these tips to help manage it.Adhere to the Treatment and Follow-Up PlanOngoing outpatient care is important when managing heart failure. Understand the treatment plan provided by your healthcare team, make diet and lifestyle changes, take medications as directed and keep recommended follow-up appointments.Pay attention to changes in symptoms and communicate with your healthcare provider if treatment does not seem to be working as expected. If their conditions are left unmanaged, patients can experience a range of heart-failure-related symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, buildup of fluid and more.Understand Challenges with Diuretic TreatmentDiuretics help the body remove excess fluid and are commonly used to treat swelling, or edema, associated with heart failure. Your provider may try different diuretics, sometimes referred to as “water pills,” to manage your heart failure symptoms. However, intravenous (IV) diuretic therapy may be required for some patients if symptoms continue.Ask About Treatment Options Before IV Care Is NeededFor some adults, a healthcare provider may consider recommending an at-home, non-oral diuretic option prior to escalating to IV therapy.For example, ENBUMYST™ (bumetanide nasal spray) is a prescription diuretic used in adults to treat edema associated with congestive heart failure. It’s administered as a nasal spray for short-term use to manage excess fluid with the goal of transitioning to oral diuretic therapy when appropriate.Talk with your healthcare provider to learn more and visit enbumyst.com. Read the full Prescribing Information and Patient Information.Photo courtesy of Shutterstock googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article2_300x250'); }); Important Safety InformationWhat is ENBUMYST?ENBUMYST is a prescription medicine used in adults to treat swelling caused by excess fluid in the body (edema) from congestive heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease.What is the most important information I should know about ENBUMYST?ENBUMYST is a diuretic that helps your body remove fluid. Losing too much fluid can cause dehydration, low blood volume, and increase the risk of blood clots. Blood abnormalities may include decreased salts (electrolytes), and increased nitrogen, glucose and uric acid. The risk of these abnormalities is higher in elderly people, those using higher doses, or those who do not get enough electrolytes by mouth.You should not use ENBUMYST if you have severe electrolyte loss. Tell your healthcare provider if you experience unusual thirst; dizziness or lightheadedness; weakness or tiredness; fast heart rate; dry mouth or tongue; sudden pain; redness or swelling in your joints; pain, swelling, redness, or warmth in your leg; shortness of breath or fast breathing; high blood sugar; dark urine; pale, tight, cool or clammy skin; muscle cramps; confusion.Do not use ENBUMYST if you have low or no urine production or are allergic to bumetanide or to any of the ingredients in ENBUMYST.Before using ENBUMYST, tell your healthcare provider if you have low electrolytes, are on a low-salt diet, have diarrhea, diabetes, nasal problems such as a runny or stuffy nose or polyps, a history of nasal injury or surgery, are or plan to become pregnant, are or plan to breastfeed.Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.ENBUMYST may cause serious side effects, such as worsening kidney function and ringing in the ears or hearing loss.The most common side effects of ENBUMYST include dehydration, headache, muscle cramps, dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea, and abnormal brain functioning with certain liver problems.These are not all the possible side effects of ENBUMYST. Talk to your healthcare provider for more information.Call your healthcare provider for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.US-ENBU-2600110 googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('JGFI_Article3_300x250'); });
ESMO: Roche touts ‘convincing’ phase 3 KRAS data after win over rivals
Roche has shed more light on its investigational KRAS G12C inhibitor's phase 3 victory over Amgen’s Lumakras and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Krazati. The open-label Krascendo 1 trial enrolled 338 people with previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients who had already received a KRAS G12C inhibitor or pan-KRAS/RAS inhibitor were excluded from the trial. Participants received either divarasib once daily, Lumakras once daily or Krazati twice daily. Roche announced back in July that divarasib had demonstrated statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), meeting the trial’s primary and key secondary endpoints. But the Swiss pharma had been holding back the detailed data until now. At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid, Roche revealed that median OS for the 167 patients who received divarasib was 17.7 months, compared to 12 months for the 171 patients who received Lumakras or Krazati. The benefit was similarly clear when it came to median PFS, which stood at 9.8 months versus 5.7 months, respectively. A total of 44% of patients receiving divarasib were alive without disease progression at one year, compared to 24% of the control group, according to Roche’s presentation. It was a similar story for the objective response rate, which came in at 58% for divarasib versus 32% for the control group, while median duration of response was 11.9 months versus 6.9 months. Stefan Frings, M.D., Ph.D., deputy chief medical officer at Roche Pharma, told Fierce that the data made for a “very comprehensive, strong package, which should be convincing to health authorities.” “It’s an important advance for patients with lung cancer,” Frings said in an interview at a Madrid hotel during the conference. “It's a second-line setting, and patients who receive divarasib benefit compared to the current first-generation KRAS G12C inhibitors by having far longer overall survival,” he continued. “They live longer. They have better progression-free survival, better response rates, and with a safety profile which is—if [anything]—even better,” he said. According to Roche, 4.8% of patients receiving divarasib discontinued treatment due to treatment-related adverse events, compared to 11.7% in the control group. Serious treatment-related adverse events were also less common with divarasib, at 7.8% versus 15.2%. Roche’s confidence in divarasib had been building even before this phase 3 success. The candidate had already shown better potency and selectivity than the incumbent KRAS G12C inhibitors Krazati and Lumakras in preclinical tests. After cross-trial comparisons suggested that the edge translated into better clinical outcomes, Roche axed a study comparing divarasib to the chemotherapy docetaxel and went toe-to-toe with Lumakras and Krazati. “We designed the drug on purpose with higher potency and better selectivity,” Frings explained. “So, based on preclinical models, we clearly knew it would be superior to the first generation.” “It’s honestly not so frequent that pharma companies go head-to-head,” he added. “But if you want to make a point, if you want to convince payers, prescribers and patients … then a head-to-head win is rather rewarding.” While Amgen and BMS reached the regulatory finish line first for KRAS G12C-mutated, locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC in 2021 and 2022, respectively, they have struggled to capitalize on their head start. Krazati brought in $55 million for BMS in the second quarter, while Lumakras delivered $111 million to Amgen. For its part, Roche is aiming for peak divarasib sales of 1 billion to 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion to $2.5 billion), according to Frings. The Big Pharma is currently recruiting patients into a phase 3 trial comparing divarasib plus Keytruda against Keytruda plus chemotherapy in previously untreated advanced or metastatic nonsquamous KRAS G12C-mutated NSCLC. Roche has previously suggested that sales in metastatic disease would account for most of the forecast. Frings was tight-lipped on the exact timeline for a regulatory filing but said the Swiss pharma is “certainly keen to get this to as many patients as possible around the world.” Roche has more RAS drugs coming up behind divarasib. The pharma has already launched phase 1 trials of a pan-RAS inhibitor called RG6505 and a KRAS G12D inhibitor dubbed RG6620 in solid tumors. Roche’s partner Chugai Pharmaceutical is also testing a pan-KRAS inhibitor called AUBE00. Roche has made a “deliberate effort” to test a range of RAS drugs, Frings said. “If you have many rare mutations and you are scrambling to find sufficient patients, a pan-RAS inhibitor makes a lot of sense,” he explained.
Halifax Health Sees 19 Biketoberfest-Related Injuries in 2026
With Biketoberfest 2026 having ended on October 18, Daytona Beach’s Halifax Health Medical Center announced the statistics on injuries related to the event. 19 patients were treated for injuries …
A sign of the times? Political sign theft, vandalism pops up in South Bay cities
Each South Bay city has their own rules for where residents put up political signs, and what entities handle theft or vandalism-related incidents.
Just two drinks a day may be far riskier than you think
A major new study reveals that drinking just two alcoholic beverages a day is associated with a 1 in 25 lifetime risk of death from alcohol-related causes, challenging the idea that moderate drinking is harmless. Researchers also found no significant overall health benefits from alcohol, with risks rising as consumption increases.
Just two drinks a day may be far riskier than you think
A major new study reveals that drinking just two alcoholic beverages a day is associated with a 1 in 25 lifetime risk of death from alcohol-related causes, challenging the idea that moderate drinking is harmless. Researchers also found no significant overall health benefits from alcohol, with risks rising as consumption increases.
Marijuana legalization tied to rise in heart hospitalizations, study finds
A study of 50 million hospital records found heart-related admissions rose faster after recreational marijuana sales became legal in 13 Western states.
CVS Health (CVS) Stock May Be Undervalued Despite Opioid Settlement
CVS Health has delivered solid gains over the past few years, and recent headlines have kept the company firmly in focus. With the stock around US$93, the question for you is whether that price is well supported by the earnings CVS generates today. Over the past 3 years CVS Health has returned 57.9%, which puts real weight on whether current earnings can shoulder the higher valuation investors are now paying. The US$315 million opioid settlement and related compliance upgrades may affect...
Mediterranean diet may boost tiny proteins that protect the heart and brain
Scientists have uncovered a surprising new clue to why the Mediterranean diet is so good for the heart, brain, and healthy aging. Researchers at USC found that older adults who closely followed the diet had higher levels of two tiny proteins, humanin and SHMOOSE, produced by the mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells. These proteins have been linked to protection against heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and age-related damage.
This Justice Department official hustles to the forefront of Trump’s legal agenda
President Donald Trump said on Friday he wanted an election-related lawsuit to be filed in Alaska. The man to do it for him was Stanley Woodward, the associate attorney general.
First 2 flu-related deaths of season confirmed in LA County
Los Angeles County health officials Thursday announced the first two flu-related deaths of the season.
Everybody panic: A Valve developer said "HLX" in public
Sound designer lets Half Life-related codename slip at a conference.
Public health experts warn lawmakers may politicize spending of opioid settlement funds
Public health experts warn that future opioid-related settlement dollars could go to waste following a decision by West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey in 2026 to give lawmakers the power to distribute most of those funds.
RFK Jr., Dr. Oz visit Broward Health to outline new federal Alzheimer's initiative
The FDA program's first initiative, the Alzheimer's Prevention Accelerator, focuses on finding medical products that can help delay or altogether prevent Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Arkansas farm bankruptcies on the rise, most in the nation
Recent reports point to a rise in Arkansas farmers struggling with finances following steep gains in fuel and fertilizer prices. The state led the nation in farm-related Chapter 12 bankruptcy...
What is a neutrino anyway? A look at the science behind this year's Nobel Prize in Physics
If you wanted a Nobel Prize, you would do well to study neutrinos. To date, the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded five times to research related to neutrino detection and discovery. This year, Francis ...
LA County Public Health reports first flu deaths of the season
The LA County Department of Public Health confirmed the first two flu-related deaths of the season.
SF: Health Officials To Discuss Recent Mgm-15 Related Overdose
San Francisco public health officials plan to release the city's latest data on accidental overdoses on Friday and also discuss a recent death linked to the kratom-derived opioid MGM-15.
County health assessment data identifies bullying as a key area for support
Boone County students reported more bullying-related behaviors than the state average in the 2026 maternal health assessment.
Judge limits election-related immigration stops amid broader legal war ahead of midterms
An unprecedented election war is playing out between the Trump administration and California in federal court, with a slate of cases proceeding at breakneck speed ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Mays Business School offers new Masters of Science program in Sports Business Analytics
On Oct. 7, Mays Business School launched a new Masters of Science in Sports Business Analytics, which will be the first sports-centered program at the school. In this new program, students will learn how to connect analytics to the business of sports organizations, and it will contain an industry-related curriculum that includes quantitative analysis, data...
Mays Business School offers new Masters of Science program in Sports Business Analytics
On Oct. 7, Mays Business School launched a new Masters of Science in Sports Business Analytics, which will be the first sports-centered program at the school. In this new program, students will learn how to connect analytics to the business of sports organizations, and it will contain an industry-related curriculum that includes quantitative analysis, data...
Dept. of Health confirms 10th travel-related dengue case on Maui
DOH teams have been deployed to conduct inspections and implement mosquito control measures in the affected area.
HHS Unveils Bold New Plan to Combat Alzheimer’s and Dementia
HHS announced the 2026 Update to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias.
FDA has finalized its guidance on apps related to drugs
In this edition of STAT Health Tech: FDA's guidance on prescription drug use-related software, and telehealth pushing GLP-1s for addiction.
Introspection required if EU Inc fails, says start-up lobbyist
European start-ups have a new voice in Brussels. Startups for Europe, created from the merger of lobby groups Allied for Startups and the European Startup Network, is hoping to harness the momentum behind EU-Inc, a campaign that united start-ups and investors behind demands for a new pan-European company regime.At a launch event for the new association in Brussels on October 1, the mood was remarkably upbeat compared to a typical Eurobubble gathering, more Silicon Valley than Schuman roundabout.When asked whether this reflects a feeling that Europe is on the right track, chief executive Serena Borbotti-Frison said it’s a “scary” moment as the continent looks to boost its competitiveness amid a new technological arms race.“What is at stake is quite intense, and the way we can answer is by delivering, but also with hope,” she told Science|Business. “It’s what our industry does. It’s not about identifying a pain point and then saying it’s too hard.”For many in the start-up community, that sense of hope is dwindling. In March, the European Commission presented its proposal for EU Inc, naming its initiative after the grassroots campaign.EU Inc was meant to be a gamechanger: the ability to incorporate within 48 hours for less than €100 and scale up across Europe; a harmonised stock option regime enabling start-ups to compete for talent; and simplified insolvency procedures for innovative start-ups to reduce the cost of failure.However, haggling by EU governments has raised concerns that EU Inc will be stripped of the very features, including stock option harmonisation, that are meant to make it attractive for companies.“I fear we are proving to ourselves that the model doesn’t work,” Borbotti-Frison said of the policymaking process. “Everyone agrees we should have EU Inc. Everyone agrees it’s hard to scale and we need to scale to answer the competitiveness [challenge], and still we cannot deliver? [. . .] What does that say about ourselves?”The Commission has made EU Inc a cornerstone of its single market reform, and has agreed with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to target an agreement by the end of 2026. However, several points are currently holding up an agreement, including national rules around employee participation in management decisions, and the provision that employee stock options always be taxed at the point of sale. Some EU governments have reportedly pushed back on the Commission’s choice of legal basis, contending that anything related to taxation requires unanimity in the Council.Trade unions have also protested against EU Inc, fearing it will be exploited by companies looking to undermine workers’ rights.“If this doesn’t work, it’s introspection time, on the way our institutions work, maybe the way our lobbies work, and maybe the way the cooperation between them works,” Borbotti-Frison said.“Is it in the national interest? Is it a gap between political will and technical ability to operate? Is it speed? I don't know, but something needs to be fixed.”Ahead of last week’s European Council meeting, EU-Inc campaigners tried a new strategy: appealing directly to EU presidents and prime ministers. In an open letter, they urged EU leaders to “step in and give your negotiating teams a clear mandate to change course and reverse their objections to the Commission’s original proposal.”Lessons from EU-IncLike its predecessors, Startups for Europe will represent national start-up associations, but it is also targeting investors. The founding sponsors are venture capital firm Atomico and EQT, the investor selected earlier this year to manage the €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund.It also wants to harness the knowledge and cross-border experience of European success stories. “Take the list of the 100 biggest unicorns in Europe. We are speaking to all of them,” Borbotti-Frison said. The association plans to publish a full list of supporters following the Slush tech conference in Helsinki in November.Andreas Klinger and Simon Schaefer, two key figures in the EU-Inc campaign, are both on the board of the new association, and Startups for Europe wants to take the lessons from their campaign.What was unprecedented about EU-Inc was “how rooted it was, and how strong it was in bringing everyone on board behind one clear pain point and solution to fix it,” Borbotti-Frison said. “This is an inspiration for us, and then we need to turn it into something more systematic, more bridged in Brussels, more connected to the policymaking game, and to scale it.”If it’s possible to unite such a broad coalition, it’s because the European start-up ecosystem is now mature, she said. “Maybe it was not ten years ago. Maybe it was not five years ago. But now, it’s mature to speak with one voice.”Open and liberal EuropeThe association plans to campaign on files related to three “pain points,” Borbotti-Frison said: “start and scale in Europe, fundraise and invest in Europe, and making Europe the most innovative continent.”As well as EU Inc, she cited public procurement, the EU’s simplification push, the Savings and Investments Union, and files related to AI adoption and technological sovereignty as priorities for the coming months.What these files have in common is that they relate not to subsidies but to the framework conditions influencing the availability of mostly private, or in the case of procurement, public, funding.Related articlesEmployee participation disagreement delays MEPs’ vote on EU IncCommission urges EU governments not to water down EU IncEU’s ‘ultra-fast’ €5B scale-up fund is set up to win, says its fund managerThe budget dispute over the next Horizon Europe programme will also impact start-ups, which are supported notably through the European Innovation Council. But EU innovation funding is a drop in the ocean compared to venture capital and public procurement budgets.“If competitiveness and innovation are a priority, then the [EU budget] should reflect it,” Borbotti-Frison said. However, she added that the main question is not how much public money is invested, but “how do we create the right conditions for the market to solve the problem?”The Scaleup Europe Fund mixes both approaches, using €1 billion in EU funding to crowd in private investors and address Europe’s lack of large-scale, late-stage growth funds. “It’s a proof of concept. Ideally, then the market will do it itself,” Borbotti-Frison said.Startups for Europe is also focused on bringing an alternative political narrative. Amid competing visions for open, global markets on the one side and a protectionist Europe on the other, it wants to offer “a third voice, to say we can be proudly European and build a strong continent in a liberal economy, open to the world, and global.”It can be tempting, when thinking about how Europe can better support innovation, to look across the Atlantic. But while it’s important to compare statistics to see where Europe needs to catch up, that’s where the comparison should stop, Borbotti-Frison said. “On everything else, we need to do it our own way. We don't have the same history. We don't have the same political model. We don't have the same way of life.”Many of the key files that could benefit the start-up community, including EU Inc and the Savings and Investments Union, rely on closer integration within Europe, making it easier to operate across borders.While the Commission has made deepening the single market a political priority, support at national level is more precarious. The coming months will see pivotal elections in Spain and France, while the German government has also been coming under pressure domestically. In each country, far-right parties have been gaining ground.When asked if she was concerned the political situation could jeopardise this progress, Borbotti-Frison responded: “Of course. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” However, she continues to believe that cooperation is the only way forward. “Doing it alone is not the solution. It’s also not who we are, it’s not the model we are building, and it’s not the scale we need.”