RFK Jr. Defends HHS Overhaul as Democrats Denounce ‘War on Science’

[ad_1] Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a defiant defense on Wednesday of his drastic overhaul of federal health agencies, insisting to members of Congress that he had “not fired any working scientists” and was “not withholding money for lifesaving research” despite evidence to the contrary. In back-to-back appearances before House and Senate committees, … Read more

Why Patients Are Being Forced to Switch to a 2nd-Choice Obesity Drug

[ad_1] Tens of thousands of Americans will soon be forced by their heath insurance to switch from one popular obesity drug to another that produces less weight loss. It is the latest example of the consequences of secret deals between drugmakers and middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, that are hired by employers to oversee … Read more

Trump Administration Slashes Research Into L.G.B.T.Q. Health

[ad_1] The Trump administration has scrapped more than $800 million worth of research into the health of L.G.B.T.Q. people, abandoning studies of cancers and viruses that tend to affect members of sexual minority groups and setting back efforts to defeat a resurgence of sexually transmitted infections, according to an analysis of federal data by The … Read more

Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: There Are Perils in ‘Elderspeak’

[ad_1] A prime example of elderspeak: Cindy Smith was visiting with her father in his assisted living apartment in Roseville, Calif. An aide who was trying to induce him to do something — Ms. Smith no longer remembers exactly what — said, “Let me help you, sweetheart.” “He just gave her The Look — under … Read more

Trump Budget Cuts Funding for CDC

[ad_1] Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, has said that tackling a chronic disease “epidemic” would be a cornerstone of his Make America Healthy Again agenda, often invoking alarming statistics as an urgent reason for reforming public health in this country. On Friday, President Trump released a proposed budget that called for cutting … Read more

Universal Antivenom May Grow Out of Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him Hundreds of Times

[ad_1] The video is just under two and a half minutes long. A slim man with close-cropped hair walks into a room, pulls a long black mamba — whose venom can kill within an hour — from a crate and allows it to bite his left arm. Immediately after, he lets a taipan from Papua … Read more

Federal Report Denounces Gender Treatments for Adolescents

[ad_1] Federal health officials published a report on Thursday declaring that the use of hormonal and surgical treatments in young people with gender dysphoria lacked scientific evidence and expressing concern about long-term harms, a stark reversal from previous agency recommendations and the advice of top U.S. medical groups. The report instead prioritized the role of … Read more

Two Theories of Consciousness Faced Off. The Ref Took a Beating.

[ad_1] Consciousness may be a mystery, but that doesn’t mean that neuroscientists don’t have any explanations for it. Far from it. “In the field of consciousness, there are already so many theories that we don’t need more theories,” said Oscar Ferrante, a neuroscientist at the University of Birmingham. If you’re looking for a theory to … Read more

Lab Animals Face Being Euthanized as Trump Cuts Research

[ad_1] On April 1, the Trump administration’s effort to slash government funding arrived in Morgantown, W.Va., where federal scientists spent their days studying health and safety threats to American workers. That morning, hundreds of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health were notified that they were being terminated and would lose access … Read more

What Nearly Brainless Rodents Know About Weight Loss and Hunger

[ad_1] Do we really have free will when it comes to eating? It’s a vexing question that is at the heart of why so many people find it so difficult to stick to a diet. To get answers, one neuroscientist, Harvey J. Grill of the University of Pennsylvania, turned to rats and asked what would … Read more