NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins has made history as the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit, leading a SpaceX mission that also established a new American speed record for reaching the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on October...
One-Time Gene Therapy Shows Lasting Promise Against Huntington’s Disease Four Years Later
An experimental one-time gene therapy from biotech company uniQure continues to show signs of slowing Huntington’s disease four years after treatment, offering potentially important evidence that gene therapy could alter the course of a devastating inherited neurological disorder for which no approved disease-modifying treatment currently exists. The treatment, called ifezuntirgene...
Ospreys Are Vanishing Along the East Coast as a Crucial Food Source Disappears
One of America’s most celebrated wildlife recoveries is facing a troubling reversal as ospreys struggle to reproduce along large portions of the East Coast, with scientists increasingly focusing on shortages of a small but ecologically important fish as a major factor. Ospreys were once devastated by the pesticide DDT, which...
MLB Eyes Historic Game in Grand Teton, Testing the Boundaries of America’s Protected Lands
Major League Baseball is exploring an extraordinary idea: staging a professional baseball game inside one of America’s most celebrated national parks, potentially transforming part of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming into a temporary ballpark. The proposal is still preliminary, but it is already generating debate over whether large commercial...
One CRISPR Infusion Cuts Dangerous Cholesterol for a Year in Early Human Trial
An experimental gene-editing therapy has produced substantial and lasting reductions in dangerous blood fats after only a single treatment, offering early evidence that CRISPR technology could eventually transform how some severe cholesterol disorders are treated. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic reported that a one-time infusion of the experimental therapy CTX310...
U.S. Accelerates Shift Away From Animal Testing as AI and Human-Based Models Reshape Drug Research
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is accelerating a major transformation in biomedical research, launching new initiatives intended to reduce reliance on animal testing while expanding the use of human cells, organoids, organs-on-chips, artificial intelligence and computational models in drug development. The effort represents one of the federal...
Potent Kratom Products Drive a New Wave of Addiction and Severe Withdrawal Across the U.S.
Addiction treatment centers across the United States are reporting a sharp increase in patients seeking help for dependence on kratom and, increasingly, highly concentrated products containing 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH. Kratom comes from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and has been available in the United States for...