Latest Medical research News

Here's how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to remake the nation's top health agencies

Nov. 15, 2024 21:23 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and environmentalist, for years gained a loyal and fierce following with his biting condemnations of how the nation’s public health agencies do business. And that's put him on a direct collision course with some of...

Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary

Nov. 14, 2024 21:01 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting a man whose views public health officials have decried as dangerous in charge of a massive agency that oversees...

What to know about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for health secretary

Nov. 14, 2024 18:27 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump 's plan to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to lead the Health and Human Services Department will put a prominent vaccine skeptic at the helm of the nation's sprawling public health apparatus. A scion of a famous Democratic dynasty, Kennedy made a name in...

23andMe cuts 40% of its workforce and discontinues therapeutics division

Nov. 12, 2024 12:21 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — 23andMe is laying off 40% of its workforce, or more than 200 employees, and discontinuing its therapeutics division as the struggling genetic testing company attempts to slash costs. The latest restructuring efforts were announced by 23andMe on Monday. The company...

50 years after Philadelphia halted prison medical testing, families seek reparations

Oct. 23, 2024 18:26 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Fifty years ago, Philadelphia prison officials ended a medical testing program that had allowed an Ivy League researcher to conduct human testing on incarcerated people, many of them Black, for decades. Now, survivors of the program and their descendants want reparations. ...

Researchers in a lab near Lake Erie study how toxic algae can damage health

Oct. 22, 2024 09:57 AM EDT

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Steven Haller remembers the look of fear on people's faces when toxic algae in Lake Erie made it into his community's water supply 10 years ago, shutting it down for two days. Since then, Haller, a clinical researcher in the University of Toledo's department of...

Faith-based environmental groups take on fossil fuels as 'a sacred duty'

Oct. 19, 2024 10:46 AM EDT

(RNS) — In mid-September, Val Smith, chief sustainability officer at Citigroup, one of the United States’ Big Four of banking, met with four religious environmental activists to discuss the company’s record on fossil fuel investment. In 2021, Citi had pledged to reach net-zero...

With brain injuries a growing problem, the US military tests how to protect troops from blasts

Oct. 19, 2024 08:25 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The blast shook the ground and its red flash of fire covered the doorway as U.S. special operations forces blew open a door during a recent training exercise. Moments later, in their next attempt, the boom was noticeably suppressed and the blaze a bit smaller,...

Dense breasts can make it harder to spot cancer on a mammogram

Oct. 12, 2024 09:46 AM EDT

When a woman has a mammogram, the most important finding is whether there’s any sign of breast cancer. The second most important finding is whether her breasts are dense. Since early September, a new U.S. rule requires mammography centers to inform women about their...

Nobel Prize in chemistry honors 3 scientists who used AI to design proteins — life's building blocks

Oct. 09, 2024 20:18 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins — the building blocks of life — were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday. Their work used advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, and holds the potential to...