The future of medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S., is in limbo after a federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of the drug mifepristone, also known as RU-486, which is used in medication abortions. If the ruling is upheld, such abortions will […]
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JWST’s Newfound Galaxies Are the Oldest Ever Seen
In a cosmological matchup of “Are they or aren’t they?” the contest is firmly in the former’s favor—10 to one, at last count. The question is one of profound importance: Are the galaxies the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is seeing in the early universe really as astonishingly remote as we think they are? So […]
See the Sharp New Image of an Iconic Black Hole
The iconic first-ever view of a supermassive black hole sports a dramatic new look, thanks to machine learning. The picture that captivated the world in 2019 showed a bright, blurry doughnut of light. But research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on April 13 sharpens that view into a narrow ring against a stark, black […]
How Often Should People Get COVID Boosters?
Many people in the U.S. who are fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID have been waiting—eagerly in some cases—to receive another layer of protection as they pass the six-month mark after their last booster in fall 2022. But most will have to continue to wait. Late last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
These Doctors Fought the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to Treat Addiction–With Drugs
After years of disappointing results in her quest to treat heroin addiction, Marie Nyswander was more than ready to try something new. When she met a prominent doctor at the prestigious Rockefeller Institute, now the Rockefeller University, the two embarked on an experiment that would define both of their careers and revolutionize the treatment of addiction […]
Electric Car Production Will Accelerate after EPA’s Historic Tailpipe Emissions Rules
CLIMATEWIRE | The tailpipe emissions rules EPA proposed Wednesday are the sticks to Congress’ carrots, providing the clearest view yet of how the agency plans to leverage the hundreds of billions of dollars lawmakers have pumped into clean energy and infrastructure. EPA built its two market-transforming rules on top of generous incentives in last year’s Inflation […]
How Bears Hibernate without Getting Blood Clots
Despite spending more than half the year hibernating in frigid temperatures, brown bears (Ursus arctos) remain remarkably healthy. These idle giants rarely suffer from maladies such as blood clots, which can occur in humans experiencing only temporary bouts of immobility and can be deadly. “Patients who come into the hospital with a broken leg are […]
New Planet-Hunting Technique Finds Worlds We Can See Directly
When astronomers discovered the first worlds orbiting other stars thirty years ago, they also began taking what might be called the galactic planetary census, tallying up the numbers and types of exoplanets in the Milky Way. Although it’s infeasible to thoroughly survey all of our galaxy’s hundreds of billions of stars, a representative sample of […]
The NYPD’s Robot Dog Was a Really Bad Idea: Here’s What Went Wrong
Editor’s Note (4/12/23): On Tuesday New York City mayor Eric Adams announced that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) will be deploying a new fleet of robots and other devices, including the controversial “Digidog.” The NYPD first tried out this bot in 2020, but a public backlash to its use led to its retirement […]
The EPA Wants Two-Thirds of U.S. Car Sales to Be Electric by 2032
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed a landmark set of pollution regulations that could spark an electric-vehicle revolution and drive down greenhouse-gas emissions. Under the rules, electric vehicles could account for an estimated 67% of new US passenger-car sales by 2032 and additional gains for larger vehicles — a major feat for a […]