(Washington Post via Yahoo!) – So he and his colleagues recruited 94 extreme runners, ages 35 to 50. Each had completed at least five marathons or two ultras (meaning any race longer than a standard 26.2-mile marathon).

The runners underwent a colonoscopy.

The outcomes “were rather startling,” Cannon said. Nearly half of the runners had polyps, also known as adenomas, in their colons. Some of these polyps could develop into cancer, Cannon said, although many won’t. But 15 percent of the runners had large, advanced adenomas, “which are much farther along on the continuum to cancer,” he said. None had colon cancer. (Read More)

(Nature) – rtificial intelligence is poised to take on a more-active role in the laboratory: two new systems, described today in Nature use teams of AI agents to develop hypotheses, propose experiments and analyse data.

Each system still relies on human input at various stages, but they boast timelines that can be remarkably shorter than when the process is left to human minds and hands alone. When the systems were asked to identify existing drugs that might be repurposed for different conditions, they arrived at plausible answers in a matter of hours.

“It almost seems like an agentic, in silico implementation of the thought process in a scientist’s head,” says Vivek Natarajan, a researcher at Google DeepMind in Mountain View, California, who helped to develop one of the systems. “The goal is to give scientists superpowers.” (Read More)

(WSJ) – As millions flock to GLP-1s, doctors warn the drugs can cause rapid and significant muscle loss

Obesity rates are falling, the volume of food consumed in America is declining and retailers report a slump in sales of plus-size apparel. It has improved health and happiness for millions of people.

But for at least some of the 13 million Americans taking them, losing muscle along with fat is an unexpected downside that isn’t broadly discussed or immediately apparent.

The drugs can cause rapid and significant loss of lean muscle mass, up to 10%, comparable to a decade or more of aging, according to an analysis published by the American Diabetes Association. (Read More)

(Futurism) – “All AI scribe systems from the 20 approved vendors showed one or more inaccuracies at the procurement testing phase.”

If you’ve been to a medical appointment in the past two or three years, chances are high that your doctor was using an AI scribe: software that listens into the conversation, transcribing it and structuring it into the format of medical notes.

In theory it’s a cool idea, but pain points abound. Earlier this week, Ontario’s auditor general — an accountability officer acting under the Legislative Assembly of Ontario — released a special report warning that AI medical scribes were “not evaluated adequately,” and may present “fabricated information” to medical professionals. (Read More)

(Nature) – It’s hard to imagine that a snail could kill a person, but a particularly venomous group of marine molluscs called cone snails can. Their stings contain a cocktail of small proteins called conotoxins, some of which can block ion channels in the nervous system. No antivenom exists.

There are hundreds of thousands of conotoxin structures, and many are harmless to people or even medicinally useful: an approved treatment for chronic pain is derived from one, for instance. But research on specific dangerous conotoxins is highly restricted in some countries.

So, in 2024, when Chinese scientists reported developing an artificial-intelligence tool to design conotoxins, it raised eyebrows in some quarters. (Read More)

(Cover Media via Yahoo!) – Pope Leo XIV has announced the creation of a Vatican commission dedicated to artificial intelligence and its impact on society. (Watch Here)

(Wired) – Climate change is contributing to the conditions driving a rodent boom—dubbed a ratada—in Argentina.

The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has created a global public health crisis. But the driver of it is a rodent that weighs about an ounce, and climate shifts this year that have helped increase the odds of transmission.

Across the Southern Cone, researchers have long associated wetter years with explosive rodent population booms—known locally as ratadas—that can amplify hantavirus transmission. This year’s boom reflects a broader pattern of disease outbreaks shaped by climate change, environmental disruption, and a hyperconnected world. (Read More)

(After Babel) – As a social psychologist, I’m used to speaking to academic audiences, making arguments from evidence. This was different. I spoke to the graduates — members of Gen Z — to offer advice about how to flourish in a world of technologies that raise many obstacles to human flourishing. I drew on the class I teach at NYU Stern, called “Flourishing,” which is my favorite class to teach, ever. Over the 12 years of teaching the course, my students and I have found techniques to make us all smarter, emotionally stronger, and more sociable. These are the key changes to increase one’s odds of success in love and in work. And success in love and work is the best validated formula for flourishing. (Read More)

(NPR) – For years, schools nationwide have struggled with hiring and retaining special educators. In the 2024-25 school year, 45 states reported special education teacher shortages, and staff turnover is worse in schools that largely serve low-income students, like Riverview.

Some special educators say part of what makes them feel overworked is legally required paperwork layered on top of regular teaching duties. Acebu is one of a growing number of those teachers around the nation using AI to help speed up that paperwork — including for writing individualized education programs (IEPs). Educators and families maintain these detailed documents that outline goals and services students need to meet those goals at school. (Read More)

(KFF Health News) – Such centers are known as crisis pregnancy centers or pregnancy resource centers. They offer limited resources and medical services to pregnant women and aim to dissuade them from having abortions. Healthcare groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have said many crisis pregnancy centers use unethical and deceptive practices to bring women into their organizations.

Traffic at 7B has picked up since the local hospital shuttered its labor and delivery unit and its OB-GYNs moved out of state three years ago. The closure left a hole in reproductive health services in this town of more than 10,000 on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille and surrounding rural areas.

“We are seeing a lot more people,” Shepard said. (Read More)

(NYT) – Aid cuts by the Trump administration have shut down crucial disease surveillance networks and medical supply chains in East Africa.

The Ebola crisis in East Africa is rapidly escalating, with cases now confirmed in major population centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Public health experts around the world and health workers on the ground say that the response has been significantly hindered by the near-absence so far of the United States, historically the leader in any major outbreak. (Read More)

(Science) – By restoring some functions to intact brains from deceased donors, the startup Bexorg hopes to create a better drug development test bed for neurodegenerative diseases

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT—Just a day ago, the brain was in a living person. Now, hours after its owner died, it sits on a cart draped in tubes that quiver as they pump liters of blood substitute and other fluids through the organ, supplying oxygen and removing waste. With most of its key functions intact but its electrical activity quenched by anesthesia, the brain hovers between life and death. As it metabolizes experimental drugs, sensors record its reactions, capturing hundreds of data points on its cells, proteins, and physiology. Then, after 24 hours in this state, it will be sliced into hundreds of pieces for more detailed study.

The brain is one of more than 700 that the 5-year-old biotech startup Bexorg has nurtured and studied using a set of proprietary brain-sustaining machines it calls BrainEx. (Read More)

(People) – James Daunt added that the chain bookstore may already be selling AI-generated books, “but we’re not really conscious of them”

The CEO of Barnes & Noble is defending the sale of AI-written books.

James Daunt, the chief executive officer of the popular book chain, said he finds no issue with selling books generated by artificial intelligence, so long as the book doesn’t “masquerade” as human-made. Speaking with Jenna Bush Hager on Today, Daunt explained his stance, which is being viewed online as controversial. (Read More)

(BMJ) – Canada has become only the second country in the world to approve a generic form of the blockbuster drug Ozempic (semaglutide), made possible after its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, did not pay a $C250 annual fee.

Two generic versions of the injectable form of semaglutide were approved by the country’s drugs regulator, Health Canada, in recent weeks, from India’s Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and the Canadian company Apotex.

Seven other applications are still under review. The generic version from Dr Reddy’s became available in Canada on 15 May, while the Apotex version does not yet have a release date. (Read More)

(Nature) – The de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences says it has developed a key technology for bringing back extinct birds and rescuing endangered ones: an artificial egg.

The device — a 3D-printed lattice shell that protects a transparent silicone membrane — has ‘hatched’ around two dozen chicks. Colossal, based in Dallas, Texas, hopes to use the technology to resurrect the extinct South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus), a 3-metre-tall New Zealand bird that laid eggs the length of a rugby ball. (Read More)

(Nature) – Chinese start-up firms are supercharging their efforts to develop algorithms for brain–computer interfaces that help people to walk and talk.

Chinese companies are racing to develop and deploy artificial-intelligence powered brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) that can help people to move, speak and control devices.

BCIs, which link a person’s brain to an external device or a computer using sensors placed around or inside the head, have been used in people who are paralysed and those with neurodegenerative diseases over the past decade.

In the past few years, companies, mostly in China and the United States, have added large language models to their brain devices. This enables scientists to decode brain activity more accurately than can be achieved using conventional signal-processing and data-analysing technologies, says Li Haifeng, a neuro-computing scientist at Harbin Institute of Technology in China.

In China, trials in small numbers of people are underway and some AI-powered brain devices will soon be sold to the public. (Read More)

(USA Today) – As tick activity increases, experts advise taking extra care before spending time outdoors.

Emergency room visits for tick bites have reached their highest levels for this time of year since 2017. Several regions of the United States are seeing increased tick activity due to warmer temperatures, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An estimated 476,000 people receive treatment for Lyme disease each year, making it the most prevalent tick-borne illness in the U.S. (Read More)

(NBC News) – An American aid worker exposed to Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has tested positive and is being transferred to Germany for treatment, according to the CDC. The U.S. says six additional exposed citizens will also be evacuated. NBC News’ Maggie Vespa reports. (Watch Here)

(NYT) – Early surveillance and testing failed to identify the rare species of Ebola responsible for the current outbreak. An American doctor is among the confirmed cases.

As soon as Ebola was identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda late last week, the severity of the outbreak was clear. There were already hundreds of suspected cases and dozens of suspected deaths.

Shortly after the outbreak was announced, the World Health Organization declared it a global health emergency.

But by then, the virus had already been circulating for weeks. (Read More)

(WSJ) – Special accommodations for irritable bowel syndrome? Families are getting creative, and spending big, in pursuit of an edge.

Test time has emerged as a fierce battleground among parents of high-schoolers. Students with diagnosed disabilities or medical issues for years have been given longer to finish college-entrance exams. But the ranks of the extra timers have surged, with a concentration in wealthy areas. And many parents are crying foul.  

They’re training their anger on families who are going to extremes for an edge, from spending $10,000 for a diagnosis from a neuropsychologist to finding a gastroenterologist to support requests for unlimited bathroom breaks. (Read More)

(Knowable Magazine) – Researchers are testing CAR T cell therapy as a way to reset the immune system in lupus, Graves’ disease and other conditions where the body’s defenses go rogue

Originally designed to target and wipe out cancer by reprogramming the patient’s immune cells, CAR T is now being offered to patients in hundreds of clinical trials for autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis, lupus, Graves’ disease, vasculitis and many others. The hope is that CAR T can duplicate the success it has demonstrated in a range of blood cancers by hunting down and eliminating cells that target the self in autoimmune diseases. This would essentially reset the body’s defenses to a state like the one that existed before the disease took hold.

But along with CAR T’s promise come risks, questions and challenges. There’s uncertainty about how well it will work for autoimmunity and how long any benefits might last, as well as what long-term side effects might arise. (Read More)

(NYT) – When psychiatrists say that you “have A.D.H.D.,” what they really mean is something like this: After spending time listening to you, talking with people who know you and observing how you think and behave, I’ve made a judgment call that your experience fits a behavioral pattern we currently call A.D.H.D. It’s a cluster of problems and tendencies that travel together often enough that we’ve observed it, given it a name and studied it. Patterns like these are handy for picking treatments that might be helpful, but they don’t settle the deeper questions about how your brain works or what kind of person you are. (Read More)

(Knowable Magazine) – People with a rare genetic disorder that damages the amygdala are helping neuroscientists rethink how the brain shapes fear, trust and concern for others

By every measure of daily life — holding down a job, keeping a household running, raising two teenage sons — Maria is competent and engaged. “You talk to her, and you don’t see anything wrong,” says van Honk, a social neuroscientist at the University of Cape Town. She and others he knows with her condition, Urbach-Wiethe disease, “are kind, sweet people by nature.” In an interview in her kitchen, Maria struggles to recollect even a fleeting moment of unhappiness — before mentioning that she kicked out her partner some years ago because of his drinking.

Yet on tests and questionnaires designed to shed light on moral choices, Maria and others with Urbach-Wiethe fail in perplexing ways that challenge one of neuroscience’s most durable assumptions. (Read More)

(Wired) – A lab at the University of Nebraska has developed a test that can detect the virus before symptoms become severe. Now, it’s ready to start testing cruise ship passengers returning to the US.

As passengers return to the US from the cruise that saw a rare hantavirus outbreak, much of the country is lacking a basic public health tool: a test to diagnose the illness in the earliest stages of infection. Nebraska may be the first state with the ability to do so.

In just a few days, a lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha developed its own diagnostic test for the Andes virus in anticipation of receiving 16 American passengers from the ship. (Read More)

(WSJ) – Booed commencement speakers, blocked data centers, plummeting poll numbers: Fast-growing industry has a faster-growing crisis

In one poll after another in recent weeks, respondents have overwhelmingly voiced concerns about AI, a challenge to claims by industry executives that their technology would gain popularity by improving people’s lives.

Consumers resent energy-price jumps exacerbated by the spread of data centers. Workers fear widespread job losses. Parents worry about AI undermining education and harming children’s mental health. In recent months, the wave of anger has brought protests, swayed election results and spurred isolated acts of violence. (Read More)