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2026-2027 Audree V. Fowler Fellows in Protein Science

Graduate students Lenka Milojević (Zhou group), Akshaya Narayanasamy (Lindert group), Sarah Singleton (Conway group), and Janet Zhong (Feigon group) have been selected as 2026–27 Fowler Fellows and shared their research at a special event on Oct. 13, 2026. 2026-27 Fowler Fellows – Sarah Singleton, Lenka Milojević, Janet Zhong, and Akshaya Narayanasamy. Akshaya Narayanasamy and Prof. Steffen Lindert. Sarah Singleton and Prof. Stuart Conway. Janet Zhong and Prof. Juli Feigon. About the 2026-27 Audree Fowler Fellows in Protein Science Lenka Milojević is a fifth-year Biophysics Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Professor Z. Hong Zhou at UCLA. As an undergraduate at Maastricht University, she studied the structural basis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence and amyloid-β fibril nucleation in the lab of Professor Peter Peters. She completed her bachelor’s thesis research at UCLA in the lab of Professor David Eisenberg, focusing on amyloid disaggregation, before beginning her doctoral studies. In the Zhou lab, Lenka uses cryo-electron tomography to visualize and characterize membrane-associated protein assemblies across a range of viral and cellular systems. Akshaya Narayanasamy is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, mentored by Professor Steffen Lindert. She earned her B.S.-M.S. in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, where she worked in Professor Mahesh Hariharan’s lab investigating how single-atom substitutions influence crystal packing and charge transport behavior. She received her M.S. in Physical Chemistry from The Ohio State University before moving with the Lindert lab to UCLA. At UCLA, Akshaya develops integrative modeling methods that combine deep learning and Rosetta with experimental data, such as ion mobility mass spectrometry and cryo-EM, to improve protein structure prediction. Her current work focuses on developing an experimentally guided diffusion model and designing de novo protein binders with potential antibacterial activity. Ultimately, she aims to bridge AI-based structure prediction and experimental data to make computational protein models more reliable for drug discovery and therapeutic design. Sarah Singleton is a 4th year BMSB student, working in Professor Stuart Conway’s lab. She earned her B.S. in Biochemistry at Simmon University (Fenway, MA). Her research is centered on drugging the previously undruggable class of proteins—transcription factors. Zinc finger (ZF)-containing transcription factor proteins typically contain multiple ZF motifs, but little is known about the principles that govern the recognition of multi-ZF arrays by immunomodulatory imide drugs (IMiDs). In a multi-ZF array that contains several potentially targetable ZFs, which will be accessible and why? How does the surrounding protein architecture inform IMiD recognition? Sarah’s research aims to utilize her findings on the fundamental principles of ZF recognition to design IMiD therapeutics for transcription factors involved in health and disease. Janet Zhong is a fourth-year BMSB student, working in Professor Juli Feigon’s laboratory. She received her BSc and MRes from Imperial College London. At UCLA, Janet combines cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and biochemical approaches to investigate how proteins and RNAs assemble into ribonucleoprotein structures. Her research focuses on telomerase, the enzyme that maintains chromosome ends, with interests in its structure, assembly, and mechanisms. She has also worked on capturing the cryo-EM structure of a small bacterial non-coding RNA called raiA motif RNA. About Dr. Audree Fowler A strong supporter of the basic sciences and medicine at UCLA, alumna Dr. Audree Fowler (B.S. ’56 chemistry, Ph.D. ’63 biochemistry) established the Audree V. Fowler Fellows in Protein Science in 2008. Fowler was Director UCLA Protein Microsequencing Facility from 1984-1999 and is a Researcher Emeritus of the UCLA Department of Biological Chemistry. She is one of the first four women to receive a Ph.D. from the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. In 2018, the women were awarded the department’s 2018 Alumni Legacy Awards in recognition of their achievements in life, and generous support and service to UCLA. “The sciences gave me a great life. Now I want to help others have access to the same opportunities I enjoyed,” Fowler explained when she established the Fowler Fellowships endowment. Applications for the fellowships are solicited from graduate students in the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental (MBI) Ph.D. Program, Biological Chemistry, and Chemistry & Biochemistry Departments. In addition to presenting their research at a special seminar, the recipients each receive a $5,000 award. Previous Fowler Fellows from the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 2025-26 – Nikki Cheung (Clubb Group), Jonathan Jih (Zhou Group), Eileen Olivares (Loo Group), and Lily Taylor (Rodriguez Group) 2024-25 – Andrew Goring (Clubb lab), Eric Pang (S. Clarke and Rodriguez labs), and Miranda Villanueva (Backus lab) 2023-24 – Alexandra Turmon (Backus lab), Cindy Wang (S. Clarke and C. Clarke labs) 2022-23 – Cody Gillman (Gonen lab), Declan Evans (Houk lab), Troy Lowe (S. Clarke lab), Ashley Julio (Backus lab), and Alex Stevens (Hong Zhou lab) 2021-22 – Weixian Deng (Wohlschlegel/Plath labs), Yi Xiao “Sean” Jiang (Eisenberg lab), Maria Flores (Rodriguez lab), Carter Lantz (Loo lab), and Logan Richards (Rodriguez lab). 2020-21 – Janine Fu (Loo lab), Calina Glynn (Rodriguez lab), and Jiahui Lu (Eisenberg lab) 2019-20 – David Boyer (Eisenberg lab), Orlando Martinez (Clubb lab) and John Muroski (Loo lab) 2018-19 – Scott McConnell (Clubb lab), Kevin Murray (Eisenberg lab), Rebeccah Warmack (S. Clarke lab) 2017-18 – Michael Hughes (Eisenberg lab), Yuxi Liu (Yeates lab), Kanishk Jain (S. Clarke lab) 2016-17 – Brendan Amer (Clubb Lab) and Jeff Vinokur (Bowie Lab) 2015-16 – Henry Chan (Feigon lab), Smriti Sangwan (Eisenberg lab), Nicholas Woodall (Bowie lab) 2014-15 – Dan McNamara (Yeates lab) 2013-14 – Alex Jacobitz (Clubb lab), Alexander Patananan (S. Clarke lab), Carly Ferguson (Loo lab) 2012-13 – Letian Xie (C. Clarke lab), Anni Zhao (Eisenberg lab) 2011-12 – Timothy Anderson (Clubb lab), Soohong Kim (Weiss lab) 2010-11 – Zeynep Durer (Reiser lab), Cecilia Zurita-Lopez (S. Clarke lab) 2009-10 – Luki Goldschmidt (Eisenberg lab), Kristofer Webb (S. Clarke lab), Sheng Yin (Loo lab) 2008-09 – Nathan Joh (Bowie lab), Neil King (Yeates lab) Photos courtesy of Helen Houldsworth, the Molecular Biology Institute.

Oct 30 • 3:01 PM EDT • Science • chemistry.ucla.edu

Young students give new teachers infections; the daylight saving time debate; circadian depression; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources

William Schaffner, MD, Professor of Preventive Medicine, was quoted by several news outlets about public health issues, including: Axios Nashville (flu season beginning early); Prevention (how long does norovirus last?); Education Week (how young students make new teachers sick). AAMC News posted a story about the debate about whether to eliminate the twice-yearly time change, and, if so, whether to permanently stay on standard or daylight time. Beth Malow, MD, director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Center, is quoted in the piece. A Men’s Health story on circadian depression, a type of depression caused by an out-of-synch internal clock in the brain, quotes Aaron Brinen, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Michael Lester, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was quoted in a Medscape story about treating chronic bronchitis with bronchial rheoplasty. Shravani Durbhakula, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, was quoted in a CNN piece about the drug cychlorphine. Art Dalley, PhD, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, emeritus, was quoted in a story in The Guardian about anatomical donation. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society quoted Subramaniam Sriram, MBBS, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Vanderbilt Multiple Sclerosis Center, in a story on its website about the differences in brain and spinal cord lesions in MS. (Note: some links may require registration or subscription)

Oct 30 • 10:20 AM EDT • Health • news.vumc.org

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

Oct 30 • 9:07 AM EDT • Science • barharborstory.substack.com

World Conference on Traditional Medicine 2026 delivers landmark outcomes for global health

Expert Committee Meeting members at the World Conference on Traditional Medicine 2026© WHOThe World Conference on Traditional Medicine 2026 concluded in Beijing on 18 October with several key outcomes aimed at strengthening global cooperation for health and well-being. These included the adoption of the Beijing Initiative on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Traditional Medicinal Plant Resources, the promotion of the New-Era Shennong Herbal Project, and the publication of the Report on artificial intelligence empowering global traditional medicine development (2026). The conference also marked the establishment of the Global Alliance for Traditional and Integrative Medicine (GATIM) to foster international scientific collaboration.The biennial conference, held on 17–18 October at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, was co-hosted by the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, the National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Medical Products Administration. WHO joined the Conference as co-sponsor, aligning with the country’s Healthy China initiative, which is overseen by President Xi Jinping. The initiative seeks to expand inclusive, high-quality health services, drive innovation in traditional medicine, and reinforce the principle that a healthy population is fundamental to national prosperity and strength. H.E. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, addressed the opening ceremony, emphasizing the critical role of traditional medicine as a unique force in safeguarding human health and advancing civilization. "Traditional medicine has followed a distinctive path of development through long-term practice," Li stated. He called on the international community to strengthen cooperation, make better use of global traditional medicine resources, and jointly address challenges to human health. Premier Li also highlighted the necessity of harnessing science and technology to accelerate the innovative development of traditional medicine. He announced that China would promote the digital and intelligent transformation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and encourage active participation from both Chinese and foreign research institutions and enterprises. Furthermore, he expressed China's willingness to expand pilot programs to open up the medical service sector and work with all parties to advance the development of Belt and Road medicinal resources conservation centre.Addressing the Conference participants via a video message, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, "This is not a choice between tradition and science. It is about bringing knowledge systems together through research, innovation, regulation and quality assurance. We need stronger evidence on what works, for whom, and under what conditions."Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, addressed the opening session, underscoring the importance of integrating traditional medicine into mainstream health systems in line with the call of the WHO Global Strategy on Traditional Medicine 2025–2034. In the closing session, Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, Director of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre, expressed appreciation for the achievements of the conference, where different world views and scientific and programmatic advances were exchanged with a clear focus on practical action to advance traditional medicine for the health and well-being of people and the planet.The conference, held under the theme Technology Empowerment and Integrated Development: Advancing Traditional Medicine for All, featured a government forum, ministerial round table and eight parallel forums to advance all four objectives of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034: strengthening evidence, ensuring safety through regulation, integrating traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into health systems, and realizing its value through action across sectors.Over the two-day event, nearly 2000 participants, experts and scholars from 103 countries and areas, including 16 ministerial-level health officials, delivered over 150 high-level speeches and reports. Discussions covered key areas such as the integration of traditional medicine into international health systems, evidence-based development, drug regulation and the application of artificial intelligence in traditional medicine.

Oct 30 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • who.int

Hackensack Meridian Health Becomes First Hospital Network in the Northeast to Administer Pixclara®, the Only FDA-Approved PET Imaging Drug for Brain Cancer

New advanced imaging technology provides greater clarity, helping physicians distinguish between tumor growth and post-treatment scarring in adult and pediatric glioma patients.

Oct 30 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • hackensackmeridianhealth.org

Tampa Police upping patrols in entertainment districts ahead of Halloweekend

The Tampa Police Department will be sending more resources to high-traffic areas and entertainment districts to prevent drunk driving and “reckless behavior” this Halloween weekend.

Oct 29 • 10:20 PM EDT • Entertainment • wfla.com

HOG works to bring better cancer treatment to Northwest Arkansas

Springdale-based Highlands Oncology Group (HOG) continues to expand drug trials and experimental treatments for patients who often have few options in later stages of cancer. Dr. Eric Schaefer has spent...

Oct 29 • 6:31 PM EDT • Business • talkbusiness.net

How to choose the right health insurance plan for 2027

'Your premiums will change. Your out-of-pocket costs can change. Drug coverage can change.'

Oct 29 • 2:47 PM EDT • Health • wisn.com

How to choose the right health insurance plan for 2027

'Your premiums will change. Your out-of-pocket costs can change. Drug coverage can change.'

Oct 29 • 2:47 PM EDT • Health • kcci.com

Hayden Panettiere death investigation closed by police in South Carolina

(CNN) — Police in South Carolina closed the investigation into actress Hayden Panettiere’s death after it was determined she died of an accidental drug overdose, the Greenville police department said

Oct 29 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • wxow.com

A golden age of science is coming

It’s almost hard to remember, but just a few years ago, a lot of very smart people thought that science was in terminal decline. Respected researchers were writing papers with titles like “Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?”, “Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time”, and “Slowed canonical progress in large fields of science”. In 1996, science writer John Horgan even published a book called The End Of Science: Facing The Limits Of Knowledge In The Twilight Of The Scientific Age. The fundamental idea was that the Universe only has so many insights to discover, and that we’ve picked the low-hanging fruit. It was the idea that Joseph-Louis Lagrange expressed when he said that “we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish.” As the big ideas and the simple ideas get mined out, we’re forced to throw ever more brains at the mysteries of nature just to keep scientific progress going at a fraction of its old pace: It looked like science was hitting a wall. Then along came AI. It’s far too early to tell how much AI will eventually speed up the growth of total factor productivity. But already we can see signs of a speedup in science. Anthropic Founder Jack Clark assembled some of the hopeful data points in a recent lecture: [ Dror Poleg@drorpoleg "If you pick different parts of science, you see the same pattern show up: Progress is accelerating, and it has started to accelerate in the last two years." Jack Clark @jackclarkSF I’m speaking at the IMF in an hour about the singularity and why I believe it has begun and the choices we'll need to make. Watch live here: https://t.co/Hj9HzcXx5h 6:08 PM · Oct 18, 2026 · 21.2K Views 2 Replies · 10 Reposts · 123 Likes ](https://x.com/drorpoleg/status/2111882070376980529) Anthropic is accelerating its investment into drug discovery, and is already announcing some impressive preliminary results: [ BioTender@Junioryu136689 BREAKING: Anthropic unveils early results from six Claude-powered drug development collaborations. • 70% shorter CAR-T signaling domain • ~35,000 antibody designs • >10× tighter antibody binding • 89% less batch-record review time Still largely preclinical. Anthropic @AnthropicAI Over the past few months, Anthropic scientists have engaged in deep research partnerships with six organizations developing new medicines. We've also begun drug discovery efforts of our own. In doing so, we’ve learned much more about how Claude can support the many stages of 9:43 PM · Oct 27, 2026 · 11.2K Views 3 Replies · 24 Reposts · 205 Likes ](https://x.com/Junioryu136689/status/2115197821150495150) Claude also appears to be enabling rapid progress toward a treatment for food allergies. OpenAI, meanwhile, announced a possible breakthrough treatment for neurodegenerative disease. Meanwhile, Google Cloud Chief Scientist Pushmeet Kohli has a list of recent scientific advances that have been enabled by its new Gemini model, including breakthroughs in nuclear fusion reactor design, rare disease research, and quantum computing: [ Pushmeet Kohli@pushmeet Gemini 4 Argon is a step change in model performance. In recent weeks, it has had a transformative impact on the Science projects in our team at @GoogleDeepMind and our external collaborators, and helped make a number of remarkable advances across scientific disciplines. 🧵👇 4:47 PM · Oct 13, 2026 · 36.5K Views 8 Replies · 41 Reposts · 497 Likes ](https://x.com/pushmeet/status/2110049807385702623) But as cool as these stories sound, they’re just very minor, preliminary efforts. There are a number of reasons to think that AI is going to propel us into a golden age of scientific discovery. That age might not last forever — AI might still run into diminishing returns eventually. But the next few decades are probably going to be an absolutely amazing time for human science. The number of “effective researchers” is no longer limited The most important input into science is scientists themselves. Until this year, that meant human brains — talented, highly trained human brains. The number of trained human brains could be increased by sending more people to grad school, but only to a point — the smartest people tend to be sent into the hardest research fields first, and if you 10x the number of researchers, the average quality will go down. This constraint was already starting to bite, as Ekerdt and Wu argued in 2024: We argue that a substantial portion of the downward historical trend in U.S. research productivity is a composition effect resulting from self-selection in researcher ability and the dramatic expansion of the research sector…[W]e find that this composition effect has lowered average researcher ability by between 37% and 53%[.] And of course, low fertility was making the problem worse, because fewer children meant fewer people who were able to become future scientists. AI just blows up this constraint completely. If an AI agent can function as an autonomous researcher, there’s no constraint on the number of researchers in the world — you can just build more of them, by building more computer chips and data centers that enable the running of more AI agents. Whether or not massive hordes of agents can collaborate to solve individual problems much faster, increasing the number of agents allows them to tackle many different research questions in parallel. What’s more, these AI “researchers” can be trained incredibly quickly compared to human beings. A human scientist takes decades to train, and more years to reach the frontier of their research field by diligent reading and conversation. This is the “burden of knowledge”, and it’s commonly believed to be one reason ideas have been getting harder to find — by the time human scientists can get up to speed, they’re often so old that their ideas are no longer novel. AI just annihilates this constraint — it can assimilate the entire literature and reach the frontier of research extremely quickly, and it can also tell human scientists where the frontier lies without forcing them to discover that for themselves. It can also pivot to new research directions more easily than humans can. And there’s also a self-reinforcing economic cycle here. Because scientific advances enable higher GDP, they enable more resources to be invested into the creation of yet more electronic “scientists”. Now that doesn’t mean the amount of scientific research goes to infinity — there may still be some essential bottleneck task that human researchers are still needed to perform. There are some indications that AI’s progress on open-ended conceptual research tasks is slower than in other dimensions, and it may be that humans are still needed to provide some of this long-term conceptual thinking. I’d bet against this being true for much longer, but it might be true for a long time. Even in this most “pessimistic” case, though, the amount of effective capital that scientists can use to leverage their work just went up by a lot. AI eliminates the theory bottleneck Science proceeds by an iterative process of theory and experiment. The theory part of that cycle is typically short, but non-trivial — it took a couple of years after the blackbody radiation spectrum was observed for Max Planck to come up with the quantum hypothesis to explain it, and decades longer before quantum theory as we now know it was created. It took about a year for Watson and Crick to figure out the shape of DNA after the requisite data was gathered. AI will basically eliminate the theory bottleneck entirely — or at least shorten the turnaround time between experiment and theory by an order of magnitude. AI is an absolute beast at math. Recently, an OpenAI model solved some of the most important open problems in computer science, math, and theoretical physics, and no one even batted an eyebrow because that sort of triumph is becoming increasingly commonplace. One of those solutions was a proof that the Standard Model of Particle Physics could be mathematically well-defined — a problem that human theorists had so far been unable to tackle. Not all research relies equally on theory, but understanding novel experimental results almost always involves some important component of either mathematical or spatial reasoning. That part of the task has now been made much, much faster. And on top of that, science is now open to a greater number of humans who aren’t naturally good at theorizing. AI can read the whole literature Much of the work of human scientists involves reading and understanding endless amounts of papers and going to endless conferences and seminars. The purpose of that work is to understand the existing scientific literature. Understanding the literature allows scientists to do the following things: Come up with new ideas for hypotheses to test Avoid doing research that someone else has already done Synthesize approaches from different areas or fields AI can reduce this effort to almost zero. Consider this excerpt from OpenAI’s blog post about their new research into neurodegenerative disease: The team divided the analysis among thousands of AI agents powered by GPT‑Rosalind, an approach we call distributed biological reasoning. The agents examined a whole-brain CRISPR atlas…a dataset showing how gene disruptions affect different types of cells across the mouse brain. Each agent investigated a gene disruption, analyzed cellular responses, searched scientific literature, and proposed explanations for the results. Their reports were combined into a reasoning atlas linking genes, cellular effects, relevant publications, and possible biological mechanisms. The research team estimated that comparable human analysis and literature review, conducted one perturbation at a time, would take months to a year. The agents reproduced findings from human analyses while uncovering additional leads. Their assessments of novelty and scientific value also aligned with judgments from blinded human experts. These findings help prioritize further experiments needed to test the proposed biological mechanisms. Some of these insights point to new leads for understanding brain disease. [emphasis mine] This is one case in which parallel work by a large number of agents really does make a huge difference: [ Haider.@haider1 this is actually insane openai deployed thousands of GPT-Rosalind agents to analyze millions of mouse brain cells in 32 minutes, work that could take human researchers months to a year also the agents uncovered new leads for brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's OpenAI @OpenAI GPT-Rosalind surfaced a new lead for drug discovery: could restoring cholesterol transport protect neurons from degeneration? DCTN1 is a gene linked to Perry syndrome, a rare neurodegenerative disorder. In mouse-brain data, disrupting it increased expression of genes involved in 2:41 PM · Oct 21, 2026 · 51.5K Views 26 Replies · 95 Reposts · 1.26K Likes ](https://x.com/haider1/status/2112917197903540516) Not only does instantaneous literature review vastly speed up the research process, but it allows AI to make novel conceptual leaps from combining approaches from wildly different fields of research. AI regularly does this in math research, combining results, approaches, and theorems from far-flung places that no human mathematician would have thought to combine. It can do it in science, too. Much of scientific innovation, historically, has been “recombinant” innovation — scientists applying insights from one field to another. With AI, essentially all research is now cross-disciplinary — AI can read not just the literature on a particular subject, but the literature on a million other subjects that might have produced useful techniques or insights for the problem at hand. Superscience So far, all of the factors I’ve listed are ways that AI can speed up science as it’s already done. I’ve basically described how AI can send gigantic hordes of superhumanly fast, superhumanly well-read, superhumanly mathematically gifted researchers to re-accelerate scientific discovery. But it’s also possible that AI will enable types of discovery — and ways of understanding the natural world — that no network of humans, no matter how large or how brilliant it was or how long it had to work, would ever be able to discover. In a post back in July, I wrote about how that might work: What if there are lots of…aspects of the Universe that [are] too complex to understand in terms of simple laws, but not so complex that they just dissolve into unknowable chaos? It’s possible that we can reliably control these complex phenomena with AI, even if we never reduce them to the kind of principles that we can teach a grad student in a textbook… Another way of saying this is that there may be laws of the universe that humans can’t understand but AI can. I call these “cloud laws” — causal regularities that can be exploited by technology, but which are too diffuse and complex for an individual human being to either intuit or communicate… Perhaps social sciences like economics, sociology, and political science obey similarly complex regularities, and AI can help us find them. Perhaps there are physical processes — plasma, or topological materials, or aerial turbulence, etc. — that obey cloud laws instead of chaos?… [H]uman collaboration is bottlenecked — it’s limited by our ability to intuit patterns at an individual level, and to communicate these patterns from one individual to another. AI, being a computer, just doesn’t have this sort of limitation; it can work with vast, diffuse patterns without having to break them into pieces or simplify them in order to compress them into the tiny pipelines of person-to-person explanation… If much of the Universe turns out to be ruled by cloud laws, we could be on the precipice of a scientific renaissance. In order to discover cloud laws, AI will need huge amounts of data about the natural world. AI figured out human speech by assimilating essentially all of the text humans have ever written. If it’s going to figure out hidden patterns in biology, neuroscience, materials science, etc., it’s going to need similarly massive amounts of data from physical instruments. That data will be far, far more than humans — individually or collectively — would be able to parse, label, characterize, or model. But AI was built to do this. If scientists simply build huge arrays of sensors to measure complex phenomena like the brain, the cell, the economy, etc., they may be able to feed this flood of data to AI directly and bypass human cognitive intermediation entirely. AI would then learn about the world directly, and it might learn things that humans never could. This “superscience”, if you want to call it that, would actually go beyond the kind of science humans have done heretofore. Many of the technologies it yielded would be beyond human comprehension — indistinguishable from magic. But to the AIs, they would make perfect scientific sense. In any case, it seems clear that the scientific slowdown that threatened human progress will now be delayed — at least for a while. Unless humans have somehow found most of the actual exploitable regularities in our Universe, we’re about to enter a new golden age of science. Subscribe Share

Oct 29 • 5:55 AM EDT • Science • noahpinion.blog

US Health Secretary RFK Jr to expand access to unapproved peptides

Health experts have cautioned against use of the drugs, citing a lack of clinical trials for humans and the unknown long-term effects.

Oct 28 • 11:09 PM EDT • Health • bbc.com

AP report: FDA scientists opposed the Trump administration's move to ease peptides access

A plan to give people in the United States easier access to unproven peptide drugs favored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was opposed by most Food and Drug Administration scientific staff members, who had limited input in drafting the policy, according to six people familiar with its development.

Oct 28 • 5:20 PM EDT • Science • pbs.org

DEA Prepares To Release List Of Marijuana Businesses That Applied For Federal Protections Under Trump's Rescheduling Move

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is preparing to release a list of state-licensed medical marijuana business that have applied in a timely fashion for federal protections that come with the Trump administration’s move to partially reschedule cannabis. A agency webpage launched on Wednesday said the forthcoming list—which will detail the states included in applicants’ business […]

Oct 28 • 3:30 PM EDT • Business • marijuanamoment.net

Superbugs are becoming a bigger public health threat, CDC warns

Drug-resistant infections kill more than 50,000 Americans every year. Those caused by C. Auris are up nearly tenfold since 2019.

Oct 28 • 3:11 PM EDT • Health • phillyvoice.com

FDA scientists opposed the Trump administration’s move to ease peptides access

A plan to give people in the United States easier access to unproven peptide drugs favored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was opposed by most Food and Drug Administration scientific staff members, who had limited input in drafting the policy, according to six people familiar with its development.

Oct 28 • 2:09 PM EDT • Health • cnn.com

FDA scientists opposed the Trump administration\'s move to ease peptides access

Food and Drug Administration scientists didn't support a new policy by President Donald Trump's administration to loosen rules on unproven peptide drugs. That's according to people familiar with the policy’s

Oct 28 • 2:00 PM EDT • Health • lancasteronline.com

Antidepressants don't fix a chemical imbalance, so what do they do?

Antidepressants do more than alter serotonin. Scientists are exploring how these drugs change emotional processing, brain plasticity, and recovery.

Oct 28 • 11:59 AM EDT • Science • jpost.com

FDA scientists opposed the Trump administration's effort to ease peptides access

WASHINGTON (AP) — A plan to give Americans easier access to unproven peptide drugs favored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was opposed by most Food and Drug Administration scientific staff members, who had limited input in drafting the policy, according to six people familiar with the p...

Oct 28 • 11:53 AM EDT • Science • wral.com

FDA scientists opposed the Trump administration's effort to ease peptides access

Food and Drug Administration scientists did not support an effort by President Donald Trump's administration to loosen rules on unproven peptide drugs.

Oct 28 • 11:51 AM EDT • Science • wsls.com

Dassault Systèmes Completes ArisGlobal Acquisition to Expand Life Sciences AI Platform

VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France, Oct. 28, 2026 — Dassault Systèmes today announced it has completed the acquisition of ArisGlobal and is now uniting its Life Sciences and Healthcare capabilities into a unified AI platform that connects science, medicine and patients. The milestones advance its ambition to improve people’s lives by empowering faster drug discovery, better therapies and […]

Oct 28 • 10:59 AM EDT • Science • hpcwire.com

What has actually caused the decline in drug overdose deaths?

After years of steep increases, especially amid the pandemic, U.S. overdose deaths decreased 27% in 2024, and preliminary data from 2025 show another meaningful drop.

Oct 28 • 8:01 AM EDT • Health • statnews.com

Sanford Health, Lewis Drug start construction of southeast-side location

Sanford Health has started construction on a combined clinic and Lewis Drug location in southeast Sioux Falls.

Oct 27 • 5:01 PM EDT • Health • siouxfalls.business

Sanford Health, Lewis Drug start construction of southeast-side location

Sanford Health has started construction on a combined clinic and Lewis Drug location in southeast Sioux Falls.

Oct 27 • 5:01 PM EDT • Business • siouxfalls.business

Eli Lilly international business chief Jonsson to retire; Yuffa to head global markets unit

Eli Lilly said on Tuesday that Patrik Jonsson, executive vice ​president and president of its international business, will retire at the end of 2026 after a 36-year career ‌at the US drugmaker.

Oct 27 • 4:38 PM EDT • Business • ksl.com

Anthropic's 97-page list of business risks is quadruple the length of other AI IPOs. What's on it: weapons, blackmail, and more

Anthropic warns potential investors its agents could do serious harm, both autonomously and in the hands of malicious actors.

Oct 27 • 4:30 PM EDT • Business • fastcompany.com

These superbugs pose the biggest threat to Americans, CDC says

Nineteen drug-resistant germs cause an estimated 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the country each year.

Oct 27 • 1:00 PM EDT • Science • washingtonpost.com

These superbugs pose the biggest threat to Americans, CDC says

Nineteen drug-resistant germs cause an estimated 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the country each year.

Oct 27 • 1:00 PM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com

Opinion: As Illinois patients struggle to afford care, hospitals profit

A little-known program allows hospitals to purchase drugs for as little as a penny and then resell them for thousands, inflating Illinoisans’ pharmacy bills and insurance premiums.

Oct 27 • 1:00 PM EDT • Business • chicagobusiness.com

Federal agents search Beverly Hills mansion tied to ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell

Stephen Cloobeck's home was searched

Oct 27 • 12:45 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Vera Health secures $28.5M series A for AI-driven clinical search engine

Clinical artificial intelligence search engine Vera Health secured $28.5 million in series A funding to accelerate and expand its platform. | Vera Health’s platform scans more than 60 million peer-reviewed publications, clinical guidelines, consensus statements and drug labels, executives say.

Oct 27 • 9:00 AM EDT • Health • fiercehealthcare.com

Philadelphia Phillies Still Have a Kyle Schwarber Conundrum

Oct 27 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Giving quantum computers a way to pick up where they left off

FIU is researching how to restart quantum workflows after interruptions to preserve computational progress. It lays the groundwork for quantum machine learning for drug discovery and climate modeling.

Oct 27 • 6:02 AM EDT • Science • news.fiu.edu

This grad’s company helps drugs get developed faster and cheaper

Flow cytometry services help biotech startups test new drugs. A Northeastern Ph.D. grad built SauveBio to make them cheaper.

Oct 26 • 3:03 PM EDT • Business • news.northeastern.edu

In brief: Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood joining 'The Gentlemen'

Netflix is rounding up more gentlemen. Tudum announced Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Ed Speelers are joining stars Theo James and Kaya Scodelario for the third season of The Gentlemen, which is currently filming in the U.K. and Morocco. Also added to the series cast are Dexter Fletcher, Robert Carlyle and Bugzy Malone, who appeared in the 2019 film that inspired the Netflix series. Daniel Ings, who played the drug-addled older brother Lord Frederick “Freddy” Horniman to James’ criminal mastermind Eddie Horiman, told HATC magazine he will not return for the third season. Netflix has not confirmed this …The action-adventure series Fallout has inspired a new reality show. Prime Video has revealed Fallout Shelter: The Experiment, an unscripted competition inspired by the post-apocalyptic drama series and the video game universe. The show “invites everyday participants to test their aptitude for the apocalypse in Vault-Tec's state-of-the-art bomb-proof vault shelters," according to Prime Video. Contestants will “go head to head in a series of high-octane drills, psychological dilemmas and morally challenging behavior trials.” The winner walks away with a $1 million prize. Fallout Shelter: The Experiment will begin streaming in January 2027 … TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Bravo renewed a slate of its reality shows ahead of Bravo’s Fan Fest on Saturday. New York-based In the City has been greenlit for season 2, while Next Gen NYC is coming back for a third season. For viewers seeking a little Southern charm, The Next Gen universe will be expanding with a spinoff based in Atlanta, and Southern Hospitality is moving forward with a fifth season. Premiere dates have not yet been announced … Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Oct 26 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

Inside Business 2026 Top Forty Under 40: Charles Bruce Jr., Drucker + Falk

Charles Bruce Jr. is the assistant director of human resources at Drucker + Falk.

Oct 26 • 6:46 AM EDT • Business • pilotonline.com

Ex-OpenAI Science Chief Kevin Weil Raises $215M for Drug AI

Former OpenAI science head Kevin Weil launches Warp Sciences with $215 million to use AI and robotics for a critical stage of drug development.

Oct 26 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • parametric-architecture.com

Research Roundup: Scientists restore bleached coral, engineer protein-based material, use AI to simulate drug effects

Read about the latest developments at Stanford in this week’s Research Roundup.

Oct 26 • 2:31 AM EDT • Science • stanforddaily.com

World-First Cancer Vaccine Cuts Melanoma Recurrence or Death Risk by 42% in Landmark Trial

"This has not been achieved before in the history of cancer drug development."

Oct 25 • 10:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencealert.com

Women Appear to Experience Psychedelic Drugs More Intensely, And We Don't Know Why

Same dose, different experience.

Oct 25 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

Peoria business leader accused of DUI in deadly UTV crash

A business executive well known in the local sport community has been arrested on drunk driving accusations for a crash that killed a woman late Saturday night in rural Peoria County.

Oct 25 • 5:48 PM EDT • Business • 25newsnow.com

Olympiacos May Attempt to Sign Genoa Midfield Maestro This Winter

Olympiacos are poised to reignite their pursuit of Morten Frendrup, testing Genoa's resolve after a rejected summer bid for the consistent Danish engine room specialist.

Oct 25 • 2:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Scientists Develop a Clever New Way To Kill Cancer Cells From the Inside

Scientists have developed an experimental strategy that exploits a chemical byproduct of cancer cells to produce anticancer drugs directly inside them. Scientists in Japan have developed an experimental method that uses a chemical produced by cancer cells to manufacture anticancer drugs directly inside them. The approach relies on carbon monoxide, a toxic gas that certain

Oct 25 • 1:45 PM EDT • Science • scitechdaily.com

Lycia Lands a $317M IPO for Inflammation Drugs Based on Nobel Prize-Winning Science

Lycia Therapeutics’ protein-degrading drugs are based on the research of Carolyn Bertozzi, a Stanford chemistry professor and Nobel laureate. Lycia’s lead drug candidate is in development for food allergy, where it could compete against the blockbuster Roche drug Xolair.

Oct 25 • 12:13 PM EDT • Science • medcitynews.com

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.

Oct 25 • 11:30 AM EDT • Health • fiercebiotech.com

After long, strange trip, Compass CEO nears launch of psilocybin pill

Compass Pathways is on the cusp of FDA approval for a proprietary version of psilocybin — the active drug in magic mushrooms.

Oct 25 • 10:07 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Longview summit to bring together mental health, substance abuse treatment providers - Longview News-Journal

The East Texas Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse will bring together mental health experts, substance abuse treatment providers and more during a Nov. 4 conference in Longview. The East […]

Oct 25 • 6:40 AM EDT • Health • news-journal.com

Reducing drug harm in NC mountain counties

Needle exchanges, disease testing, providing Narcan and other harm reduction efforts navigate complexities of Western NC communities.

Oct 25 • 4:00 AM EDT • Health • northcarolinahealthnews.org

Adams County Health Department participates in Drug Take Back Day 2026

For Drug Take Back Day, people were encouraged to drop off expired or unwanted medicine and prescription at Adams County Health Department Saturday.

Oct 24 • 11:52 PM EDT • Health • wgem.com

Mission Health hospitals collect 289 pounds in 'Crush the Crisis' drug take-back day

One simple step. For some local hospitals - that makes a big difference in keeping dangerous medications out of the wrong hands.

Oct 24 • 10:05 PM EDT • Health • wlos.com

Adams County Health Department participates in Drug Take Back Day 2026

Residents were encouraged to drop off expired or unwanted medicine and prescription at Adams County Health Department for Drug Take Back Day.

Oct 24 • 6:02 PM EDT • Health • wgem.com

Kinney Drugs offers free caregiver webinar series

Kinney Drugs will host four free caregiver webinars Oct. 28-Nov. 18 covering dementia, burnout, medication safety and caregiving tips. Registration is open.

Oct 24 • 6:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • romesentinel.com

Tulane’s Protection Around Trace Johnson Critical for Win Over UTSA

It will be really important for the Tulane Green Wave to give quarterback Trace Johnson some strong pass protection as they get set to take on the American Conference-leading UTSA Roadrunners at Yulman Stadium on Saturday night.

Oct 24 • 2:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Honeydew is betting big on the 'Hollywood dose' of Accutane

Accutane has a reputation as a drug of last resort for persistent acne. One founder is changing how it's prescribed, opening up access to mini doses.

Oct 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Woman in ad who said a Democrat endangers kids pleaded guilty to endangering kids

Shellie Flockhart, who called Iowa Democratic House candidate Sarah Trone Garriott “dangerous” for kids, pleaded guilty after authorities said she drove drunk with her children in the car in 2017.

Oct 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Keys to Success: Tulane vs. UTSA

The Green Wave will be looking for its second conference win against a top-notch Roadrunners squad.

Oct 23 • 10:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Omaha Tribe opens $8.5M water treatment plant, quadrupling capacity

The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska has opened the Umóⁿhoⁿ Ní Waxúbe — Omaha Sacred Water Treatment Facility, Ní Ti, an $8.5 million plant that quadruples water storage capacity, according to utility director Jerry Henscheid. The facility came online Oct. 6 on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska, replacing a plant built in 1980 that had […]

Oct 23 • 8:31 PM EDT • Business • tribalbusinessnews.com

Scientists demonstrate AI-designed enzyme for drug synthesis

The new RFD4-Proteina unified generative model for protein design—created by the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) in collaboration with NVIDIA—uses advanced AI to generate entirely new protein sequences ...

Oct 23 • 5:00 PM EDT • Science • phys.org

Improving breast cancer treatment; improving prostate cancer diagnosis; listen to your knee pain; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources

WTVF News Channel 5’s “Morningline” program interviewed Denise Garcia, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, about new technology that helps surgeons identify cancer during surgery and improve breast cancer treatment. A Men’s Health story about PSA screening for prostate cancer quoted Kelvin Moses, MD, PhD, Professor of Urology. Men’s Health posted a story, “What Your Knee Pain is Trying to Tell You,” that quotes Charles Cox, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. William Schaffner, MD, Professor of Preventive Medicine, was quoted by several news outlets about public health issues, including: WSMV Channel 4 News (importance of flu shots); MedPage Today (mRNA flu shots); WTVF News Channel 5 (19 people sent to hospital after a sickness outbreak at Walmart facility in Lebanon); Prevention (West Nile virus); HuffPost (prevention pill for COVID); and Newsweek (measles cases continue to increase in the U.S.). Becker’s Hospital Review and Nashville Post covered the Vanderbilt Health News story from Rebecca Warren that Chief Communications Officer John Howser is retiring in March 2027, closing out a nearly 40-year career at Vanderbilt. A Healio story on research about OCT-A biomarkers and diabetic retinopathy quotes Vanderbilt University School of Medicine student Rachel Liu. WPLN Nashville Public Radio quoted Amanda Mixon, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, in a story about adverse drug interactions.

Oct 23 • 4:54 PM EDT • Health • news.vumc.org

Business owner arrested in connection with illegal gambling and drug case

An owner of several businesses is facing charges in connection with illegal gambling and drug trafficking, according to the Frankfort Police Department.

Oct 23 • 12:56 PM EDT • Business • wkyt.com

Woodruff makes Brewers' World Series roster as he returns from shoulder injury

Woodruff took the place of Chad Patrick on Milwaukee’s 13-man pitching staff as the Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays submitted their World Series rosters Friday before playing Game 1 in Milwaukee.

Oct 23 • 12:54 PM EDT • Sports • spectrumnews1.com

Brewers Place Brandon Woodruff On World Series Roster

The Milwaukee Brewers have placed Brandon Woodruff on the World Series roster

Oct 23 • 12:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

White House Declares Increased Focus on Women’s Health in US

A newly erected Women’s Health Division within NIH will work in tandem with the Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Oct 23 • 10:05 AM EDT • Health • drugtopics.com

FDA Should Practice the Science It Preaches

The FDA has plenty of advice for pharmaceutical companies. It publishes guidance documents, establishes scientific expectations, and expects drug developers to explain themselves when they take a diff...

Oct 23 • 7:49 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com

FDA Should Practice the Science It Preaches

The FDA has plenty of advice for pharmaceutical companies. It publishes guidance documents, establishes scientific expectations, and expects drug developers to explain themselves when they take a diff

Oct 23 • 1:00 AM EDT • Science • realclearhealth.com

Ex-OpenAI science chief Kevin Weil launches Warp Sciences with $215M for drug chemistry

Ex-OpenAI science chief Kevin Weil launches Warp Sciences with $215M for drug chemistry - SiliconANGLE

Oct 22 • 6:08 PM EDT • Science • siliconangle.com

Tulane Standard and Season Face Massive Test Against UTSA Roadrunners

This weekend could put a lot in perspective for the Tulane Green Wave and what this season can truly look like.

Oct 22 • 12:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Sen. Louise Lucas indicted on federal drug charges

Virginia Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas was charged Thursday in connection with an alleged criminal enterprise.

Oct 22 • 10:59 AM EDT • Business • virginiabusiness.com

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.

Oct 22 • 9:17 AM EDT • Health • statnews.com

Goodbye obesity, hello Ozempic: GLP-1 politics

The rise of Ozempic and GLP-1 drugs reveals how body politics, beauty standards, class and desirability shape ideas of the American body.

Oct 21 • 1:02 PM EDT • Politics • thedailycougar.com

New US drug launches need price check to counter access impediments, ICER, West Health urge

As policies from the last two presidential administrations put heightened focus on drug affordability in the United States, a new report suggests much work remains to be done when it comes to the l | As policies from the last two presidential administrations put heightened focus on drug affordability in the United States, a new report suggests much work remains to be done when it comes to the launch prices of novel medicines.

Oct 21 • 10:36 AM EDT • Health • fiercepharma.com

HCA Healthcare to Host Eighth Annual “Crush the Crisis” National Prescription Drug Take Back Day - Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report

October 21, 2026 – HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced it will host its eighth annual “Crush the Crisis” national prescription drug take […]

Oct 21 • 9:18 AM EDT • Health • southfloridahospitalnews.com

Guns, drugs, AI, budget cuts join traditional maladies at public health forum

A daylong public health forum in Baltimore on Tuesday touched on health challenges that likely aren't found in any medical textbook: gun violence, artificial intelligence, social media and "the ravages of Washington" under the Trump administration.

Oct 21 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • marylandmatters.org

7 events in Lancaster County this week, from a Lancaster Fringe Fest show to PA Drum Show

There's entertainment in every nook and cranny of Lancaster County, if you know where to look for it.

Oct 21 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • lancasteronline.com

Billionaire Mark Cuban’s 5-step plan to make healthcare affordable targets drug middlemen’s ‘contractual terrorism’

The Cost Plus Drugs cofounder told Texas lawmakers that insured patients are often better off paying cash—and laid out five fixes built around price transparency.

Oct 21 • 3:15 AM EDT • Health • fortune.com

Would subsidizing weight-loss drugs make health care fairer?

GLP-1 medicines such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have transformed the treatment of obesity, but access to them in Australia increasingly depends on something much less medical: whether you can afford ...

Oct 20 • 8:40 PM EDT • Health • medicalxpress.com

Healthcare and Life Sciences Leaders Build on NVIDIA to Advance Drug Discovery and Expand Patient Care

NVIDIA today announced collaborations with leading global healthcare and research organizations to advance protein design — including through a newly released open model, RFD4-Proteina — accelerate drug discovery and bring greater precision to cancer care.

Oct 20 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • nvidianews.nvidia.com

Everton's Right-Back Conundrum Ahead of Arsenal

Everton are preparing to face Arsenal in the Premier League, and David Moyes could have a decision to make at right-back.

Oct 20 • 2:11 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Romania Politics Government

Ministers of the Luca Niculescu cabinet stand during a swearing in ceremony at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Oct 20 • 1:36 PM EDT • Politics • postregister.com

DEA serves search warrant at Cape Girardeau health clinic

The Drug Enforcement Administration served a search warrant at a health clinic in Cape Girardeau on Tuesday morning, October 20.

Oct 20 • 1:17 PM EDT • Health • kfvs12.com

Harms of Public Health Measures Overlooked in COVID-19 Policy Reviews

Investigators link oversight with eroding trust in health authorities and call on future pandemic inquiries to weigh trade-offs.

Oct 20 • 12:51 PM EDT • Health • drugtopics.com

No science background? AI does the lab work

Financial analysts used Anthropic’s Claude to design protein minibinders that bound scorpion toxins in lab tests—showing AI can compress drug discovery...

Oct 20 • 11:11 AM EDT • Science • seekingalpha.com

Tips for covering Medicare open enrollment

It's that time of year again when traditional Medicare enrollees can change their Part D prescription drug plan, move from a Medicare Advantage plan back to original Medicare, and in a handful of states, switch Medigap plans.

Oct 20 • 10:01 AM EDT • Health • healthjournalism.org

Judi Health launching employer Medicare Part D plan with a focus on transparency

Judi Health is launching a new Part D plan that aims to lean on its tech stack to drive transparency and outcomes. | Judi Health is launching a new Part D plan that aims to lean on its tech stack to drive transparency and outcomes.

Oct 20 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • fiercehealthcare.com

Scientists finally uncover why statins can cause muscle pain

Scientists have uncovered a surprising reason why statins, the widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs that help prevent heart attacks and strokes, can sometimes cause muscle pain, weakness, and even severe muscle damage. Using advanced imaging technology, researchers discovered that statins can attach to a crucial protein in muscle cells and force open a channel that normally controls calcium flow. This causes calcium to leak continuously, potentially damaging muscle tissue.

Oct 20 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

Pfizer makes ‘business decision’ to end phase 2 trial of autoimmune drug as program’s future uncertain

Pfizer has called time on a phase 2 trial of its CXCR5 antibody in an autoimmune blood disorder, with the company tight-lipped on whether this marks the end of the road for the asset. The Big Pharma had been evaluating the therapy, dubbed PF-06835375, in a phase 2 study of 61 patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) that kicked off in 2022, according to the federal trials register. However, Pfizer confirmed to Fierce on Monday that this study had been terminated “due to a business decision.” “The decision to terminate the trial was not based on any safety concerns,” a spokesperson pointed out. At time of publication, PF-06835375 remained listed on Pfizer’s website for both ITP and lupus. A phase 1 study in lupus wrapped up in 2022, according to the trials database. ITP is an autoimmune disorder characterized by a low platelet count. Novartis was at one point evaluating its B-cell-depleting antibody ianalumab—recently approved as Fabhalta to treat immunoglobulin A nephropathy—as a potential treatment ITP. But the therapy struggled to demonstrate a benefit in the clinic for this indication. When contacted by Fierce, Pfizer wouldn’t confirm whether all work on PF-06835375 has been halted, and whether the company has any other plans to explore C-X-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CXCR5) as a mechanism. CXCR5 is found in blood cancers such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma chemokine receptor. However, there is little expression in normal tissue, which has led some drug developers to explore its potential. Vincerx Pharma had at one point been planning to take an anti-CXCR5 ADC into the clinic to treat B-cell malignancies, but that ambition was scrapped due to cash constraints. Where Big Pharma is placing its bets is one of the hot topics being discussed at Fierce Biotech's high-impact event in London next month. Find out more information and register by clicking on the banner below: [ ](https://qtxasset.com/quartz/qcloud5/media/image/where_big_pharma_is_placing_its_bets.png?VersionId=B8JrRbJ.pFUSK1pJgjeWHLGm_18RdLAy)

Oct 20 • 3:59 AM EDT • Business • fiercebiotech.com

GLP-1 drugs may protect kidney health in people with bipolar disorder

Mayo Clinic researchers found that GLP-1 receptor agonists, medications widely used for diabetes and weight management, were associated with a lower risk of dialysis or kidney transplantation in adults with bipolar disorder and chronic kidney disease.

Oct 20 • 3:41 AM EDT • Health • news-medical.net

GLP-1 Drugs and Mental Health: Effects on Depression and Anxiety

GLP-1 receptor agonists affect pathways involved in mood, appetite, and reward, prompting research into their potential benefits for depression, substance use disorders, and binge eating. Psychiatric treatment benefits remain unproven, while conflicting observational findings and reassuring trial evidence require careful interpretation.

Oct 20 • 12:20 AM EDT • Health • news-medical.net

Toppenish School District receives $7.5 million federal grant to expand mental health services for students

The BriefThe Toppenish School District has been awarded up to $7.5 million through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education), a federal grant administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).The grant will provide up to $1.5 million annually over five years to expand mental health services, strengthen substance use prevention and intervention, and improve access to support for students.District officials say the funding will help address identified gaps in services, particularly drug and alcohol counseling at the high school level, and will allow the district to build capacity for long-term mental health support.TOPPENISH, WASHINGTON — The Toppenish School District has been awarded up to $7.5 million through Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education), a federal grant administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), to expand mental health services and substance use prevention for students.District officials said access to mental health resources has been limited, making it difficult for some students and families to get the support they need. The federal Project AWARE grant will help address those challenges by bringing schools and local healthcare providers together to better support students.The grant will provide up to $1.5 million annually over five years to expand mental health services, strengthen substance use prevention and intervention, and improve access to support for Toppenish students. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jeff Camero said the district is focused on coordinating with service providers in the area to work as a unified team."We made the awareness with the grant. But looking at all the service providers in the area and how can we all together work as a team?" Camero said.Camero said the district wants to use those resources to reach students earlier and provide more support for those struggling with their mental health. The district plans to address a range of mental health challenges, from anxiety and depression to youth suicide risk. Camero emphasized the importance of supporting students in grades eight through twelve, where suicide rates are a particular concern."Making sure from anxiety to depression, making sure that we can help support our students at those levels, but also the youth suicide risk, looking at that as a top in this area, in our grades, you know, eight, for example, eight through 12, looking at suicide rate and looking at how whether we look at the ACES or whatever program we're looking at, that's federal, how that connects and how we can better serve our students with this extra funding," Camero said.The funding will allow the district to bring in additional staff, including mental health and substance use specialists, to work directly with students and connect families with community resources. The district is already posting positions, including a director role, with additional positions expected to follow.District officials are also thinking beyond the grant's five-year timeline. Brittany Kaple, Director of Public Relations for the Toppenish School District, said the intent is to build capacity and establish connections that will sustain mental health services even after the grant funding ends."We do have the director position already posted, with some of our other positions following really close behind that. But the intent is to, you know, it's a five-year grant, so those positions would be funded for that five years. But there's also the intent to build capacity and make those connections so that at the end of the grant, when that money, you know, if that money is not renewed," Kaple said.As student mental health needs continue to evolve, access to drug and alcohol counseling has become an important priority for the district. Kaple said teachers and staff have been raising concerns about the need for more support, especially at the high school level."And that was something that was also an identified need by our high school staff when the superintendent met with them last school year. They said that that was a really great need, something that they felt was a gap in services that we were providing for our students. And so this is going to be one way to help support that need," Kaple said.The Toppenish School District says its goal is to ensure students and families have access to the support they need, both now and in the years ahead. Additional positions, including drug and alcohol counselors and family engagement specialists, are expected to be posted in the coming weeks. News Sunnyside City Council navigates 2027 budget planning Monique Garcia News "Dancing with the Stars" champion J.R. Martinez shares message of resilience during Central Washington visit Tyler Wargo News Toppenish, Mattawa educators honored at state Educator of the Year Awards Erin Wencl News Kennewick educator named 2027 Washington Teacher of the Year Erin Wencl News Voters to decide the next Yakima County Sheriff Monique Garcia ​COPYRIGHT 2026 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

Oct 19 • 7:59 PM EDT • Health • applevalleynewsnow.com

Six Penn State Health locations to offer safe medication disposal on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

As part of a nationwide drug take-back effort, Penn State Health and local police departments will offer medication disposal sites across central Pennsylvania on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Oct 19 • 3:40 PM EDT • Health • pennstatehealthnews.org

Fish product sold in Pennsylvania recalled for ‘possible health risk’

(WHMT) — The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of a fish product that was sold in six states, including Pennsylvania. According to the FDA, Krasnyi Oktyabr, Inc. …

Oct 19 • 11:21 AM EDT • Health • abc27.com

S.C. business owner holds drunk burglar at gunpoint

The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office said it arrested someone in connection with a burglary at the Sip ’n’ Ride.

Oct 19 • 11:16 AM EDT • Business • wrdw.com

Eric Dane’s drug addiction may have impacted the decision to write him off “Grey’s Anatomy”, new book reveals

The late actor writes about how his drug addiction may have impacted the decision to write him off the ABC series.

Oct 19 • 10:52 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Researchers Discover a Blood-Pressure Drug May Stimulate “Healthy” Brown Fat

Losartan, a drug commonly prescribed for high blood pressure, boosts brown adipose tissue or “brown fat” activity and enhances its metabolism, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine, Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers.

Oct 19 • 9:48 AM EDT • Health • news.weill.cornell.edu

Flu Clinics & Drug Take Back Day

Take part in upcoming public health events to help keep you and your family well this fall. Flu ClinicsThe Health Department is holding flu clinics in the coming weeks. Getting vaccinated for flu

Oct 19 • 8:07 AM EDT • Health • wellesleyma.gov

Worried About Your Teen? Check Their Dental Exam Results For A Window Into Their Well-Being

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterMONDAY, Oct. 19, 2026 (HealthDay News) — You can tell a lot about your teen from their oral health, says a new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report. Many teenage health problems — eating disorders, smoking, drug use, sexually transmitted diseases — can be ...

Oct 19 • 6:15 AM EDT • Health • usnews.com