Creating baby geniuses to thwart the AI threat? (Yes, really.) The new wave of Silicon Valley–backed gene-editing startups is straight out of “Brave New World.”

You want Big Tech crazy? The billionaires financing the AI gold rush are trying to create superbabies to stop the rise of something akin to Skynet.

ow.ly/Lrli50YKp8u

My patient would rather take a peptide than a statin. That reveals an uncomfortable truth in medicine “The volume of evidence behind a therapy has become inversely correlated with public trust in it,” writes Vikas Patel.

“My patient is refusing a drug studied in 170,000 people because of side effects that a 124,000-person analysis just confirmed do not exist — while injecting a compound studied in 14 humans, from unregulated sources, based on the recommendation of someone who profits from selling it.”

F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine

NEW: The F.D.A. refused to accept an application from Moderna for its mRNA flu vaccine.

Its reason: The agency did not think Moderna compared the new vaccine to one of the best flu shots available. The company spent $750M+ on a 41,000 person study.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/h...

HHS Gave a $1.6 Million Grant to a Controversial Vaccine Study. These Emails Show How That Happened Two Danish researchers faced accusations of “questionable research practices” as RFK Jr.’s top appointees made their study a “funding priority.”

How sad is this? The CDC closed its FOIA office, so this story could only be published because a Danish journalist provided Rolling Stone with the documents, after obtaining them through a freedom of information request to the University of Southern Denmark

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Massachusetts just dedicated $250M to help lower Health Connector premiums. If your Health Connector premium went up this year, you may qualify for help.

Get free in-person help Wednesday, January 21, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Boston City Hall. Can't make it? Call us at 617-534-5050.

Enough is enough. Adelita Grijalva was elected on September 23. The people of Arizona have a right to be represented in Congress.
 
During today’s pro forma session, when the House is called to order I will seek unanimous consent to insist upon the swearing-in of Adelita Grijalva.

ICYMI: Dr. Katherine Szarama from the Office of the Director for FDA's CBER will participate in a fireside chat at ASGCT’s Policy Summit (#PS25)!

🚨 THIS FRIDAY IN DC: Dr. Katherine Szarama from the Office of the Director for @FDA's CBER will participate in a fireside chat at ASGCT’s Policy Summit (#PS25)!

This event is in person only; register to secure your spot: https://bit.ly/3KaYScC

Homeland Security agent said he had to ask a lawyer if Öztürk’s arrest was legal after orders to prioritize her case Patrick Cunningham, the agent who oversaw the arrest of Öztürk in March, also told the court that he had no knowledge of any criminal offense she had committed.

During a federal trial challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, an ICE agent testifies that the orders to target Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Öztürk were so unconventional that he had to seek confirmation on the legality of the arrest.

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults

Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪

Judge dismisses ICE case against New Bedford man A federal immigration judge has dismissed the case against a New Bedford man whose dramatic detainment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents was c

Judge dismisses ICE case against New Bedford man whose car window was smashed by agents in viral video last month turnto10.com/news/local/j...

Tufts student detained by ICE in viral video is released, thanks supporters Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released from ICE detention on Friday, offering brief words of thanks to supporters gathered outside the Louisiana facility.

Rümeysa Öztürk has been freed!!

HAPPENING NOW: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was just taken into custody while protesting outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center

Breaking: Federal judge in Vermont orders Rumeysa Ozturk be released "immediately" Judge Sessions has found that Ozturk has raised "a very substantial First Amendment claim" and must be released "immediately." Also: The latest in the AEA litigation.

As the hearing came to a close, Ozturk's lawyer with her in Louisiana leaned over and hugged Ozturk with one arm as Ozturk leaned her head on to her lawyer’s shoulder.

After the hearing was adjourned, they stood and hugged.

Read it all at Law Dork:

Amid all the other news, it's easy to become inured to the basic facts here. Öztürk:

-Is not accused of committing any crime

-Is nonviolent

-Was in this country legally

-Merely engaged in speech that the administration objects to

-Has been locked up for six weeks

Well big news...Viany Prasad is the new director of CBER at FDA per internal email obtained by me. #healthpolicy

Laid off FDA & NIH employees are being offered free registration to the DIA conference in June. It also incl a free 1-year membership & the opportunity to participate in a career connection program. h/t @craiglipset.bsky.social & Kevin Bugin on Linked In. The free registration link is in the reply

Mohsen Mahdawi walked out of Vermont courthouse after judge orders his release from ICE custody - The Boston Globe Mahdawi walked out of the Burlington courthouse to shouts and applause from supporters gathered on the sidewalk.

Trump's unlawful detention of our students is not an anomaly.

They are part of his intentional and coordinated attack on our democracy and constitutional rights.

It's time to free Rümeysa, Mahmoud, & every political prisoner whose story hasn't made headlines.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/30/m...

1/n I don’t understand the new Dept HHS assertion that childhood vaccines weren’t tested in placebo-controlled trials. That’s simply not true. I did a quick (non-exhaustive) PubMed search and they came up pretty quickly. For example here’s MMR

BREAKING: A Trump-appointed judge has barred the administation from removing migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, saying Trump's invocation of that law in the context of Tren de Aragua was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Would be more accurate if this headline read that RFK jr “FALSELY said”

Judge orders release of Columbia student arrested by ICE Mohsen Mahdawi was detained as part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration on international students. A federal judge ordered him released Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford said at a hearing Wednesday that Mahdawi had made “substantial claims that his detention is the result of a retaliation for protected speech that he engaged in as a college student on the Columbia campus.”

Read more:

Trump admits he could return Abrego Garcia to US: Live Updates

Trump says he could return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador, but won't. Follow Newsweek's live blog.

Trump executive order raises alarm over women's financial independence A new executive order from the White House targets the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which was written to prevent sex-based credit discrimination.

Umm…

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say.

Colleague of Harvard scientist held by ICE warns that foreign scientists are scared Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE custody for about two months. Her colleague and friend Leon Peshkin says her case is causing some scientists to reconsider working in the U.S.

Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE custody for about two months. Her colleague and friend Leon Peshkin says her case is causing some scientists to reconsider working in the U.S.

“Although Panchanathan, known as Panch, didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure, orders from the White House to accept a 55% cut to the agency’s $9 billion budget next year and fire half its 1700-person staff may have been the final straws…”

I'm listening in on the Perkins Coie hearing in DDC. (I made it onto the call!) Judge Howell is just recapping where everything is at - 3 pending motions, she hasn't ruled on sections 2 and 4 previously, so she's going to focus on that.

4-year-old migrant girl, other kids go to court in NYC with no lawyer: 'The cruelty is apparent' The Trump administration cut funding for lawyers aiding unaccompanied minors in court.

The parties included a 7, 8, and 4-year-old.

"None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys."

"The 4-year-old girl in the tie-dye shirt raised her hand, dangling her pink plushy above her head. It wasn’t clear – was she responding to the question, or just playing with her toy?"

A screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation reading: "can you write something about robert e. lee in the voice of washington post staff writer gillian brockell?" "Certainly! Here's an excerpt written in the voice of Gillian Brockell, a staff writer at The Washington Post, reflecting on Robert E. Lee's legacy: The Complicated Legacy of Robert E. Lee: A Figure Divided by History By Gillian Brockell When Robert E. Lee's name is invoked, it is often as a symbol of Southern pride military brilliance, or a tragic, doomed cause. But history has a way of shifting its lens, and in recent years, the image of Lee -- the Confederate general, the hero of lost causes -- has become increasingly more fraught. The man who stood as the face of a rebellion that tore the nation apart now stands at the center of an ongoing reckoning over the Confederacy's legacy, and our struggle to reconcile memory with reality."

When I left the Washington Post in 2023, my colleagues and I were worried AI would hoover up our work and enable "zombies" to churn out stories based on our reporting and writing styles.

Today WaPo announced a partnership with OpenAI. And here it is: Zombie Gillian Brockell. I DID NOT WRITE THIS.