���ϳԹ���

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a widely used abortion medication could continue to be prescribed by telehealth and sent to patients by mail. Two manufacturers of mifepristone had asked the Supreme Court to intervene after the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit restricted access to the medication. The Supreme Court’s brief order means that the Fifth Circuit’s decision will remain blocked, perhaps for months, while litigation continues in the lower courts. The issue could eventually return to the high court. (Marimow, 5/14)

The Indiana Supreme Court has denied Planned Parenthood’s request to have its case challenging the near-total abortion ban transferred to the Hoosier state’s high court. According to an order filed by the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday, the justices denied the nonprofit organization’s petition to have the case transferred to the Indiana Supreme Court. This marks the latest development in the case after the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the state’s abortion ban in August 2025, ruling against abortion providers on whether Indiana’s abortion law violates the state’s constitution. (Haughn, 5/14)

The Missouri House on Wednesday passed legislation providing rights to "a child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion." Members of the House voted 102-46 to pass the Senate bill, which includes what supporters call the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. It now goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe. (Kellogg, 5/15)

It was 1993, and Victoria Snyder wanted a baby. The Hawaiʻi resident went to William McKenzie — a popular and renowned gynecologist on Oʻahu’s  North Shore — and requested to be inseminated with sperm from an anonymous Filipino donor. The following year, she gave birth to twin boys. (Valera and Thompson, 5/14)

Children exposed to prenatal antidepressants had an increased risk of autism or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that was not significant after adjusting for confounding factors, a systematic review and meta-analysis showed. (George, 5/14)

New research indicates administration of the antibiotic azithromycin late in pregnancy may be tied to a lower risk of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) than other antibiotics used for bacterial infections during pregnancy, researchers reported this week in JAMA Network Open. An estimated 37% of US women are exposed to antibiotics during pregnancy for bacterial infections, including respiratory and sexually transmitted infections, and roughly 3% use azithromycin, which is also used in expectant mothers to help prevent surgical-site infection after cesarean and vaginal delivery. (Dall, 5/14)

The pill helped give birth to modern America. Known by one simple word, the revolutionary oral contraceptive — approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 66 years ago — didn’t just prevent innumerable pregnancies. It gave women new freedom, changing family life and society forever. “Its introduction in the 1960s afforded U.S. women this unprecedented control over their childbearing and subsequent life trajectories,” says Suzanne Bell of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The pill disentangled sex from procreation. Women no longer needed a man’s cooperation to control their fertility. (Ungar, 5/12)

The number of Americans being monitored after potential hantavirus exposure has climbed to 41, but there are no current U.S. cases, the CDC said on Thursday. That tally is up from earlier reviews of state health department data, which showed that at least 36 people in 11 states were under monitoring for potential exposures in connection with the cruise ship outbreak linked to 11 cases and three deaths worldwide. (Rudd, 5/14)

An oncologist traveling on the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak has been cleared to leave a special biocontainment unit in Nebraska, where he was the lone American placed in isolation after he helped care for fellow passengers who became sick on board. Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Bend, Oregon, was among more than 120 passengers and crew evacuated from the ship and flown to different countries to enter quarantine. (Eunjung Cha, 5/14)

The 18 Americans now being monitored following exposure to the andes hantavirus strain aboard a cruise ship may not show symptoms for up to 42 days after exposure — a lengthy window that complicates containment and has direct implications for hospital leaders around planning capacity, resource allocation and who may encounter cases in the weeks ahead. The Andes virus has “a much longer incubation period than we see for a lot of other viruses,” Brendan Jackson, MD, acting director of the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said in a May 12 press conference at University of Nebraska Medical Center — where 16 passengers are currently being monitored. (Jeffries, 5/14)

Close, sustained contact. That, health officials have repeatedly said, is the only way that the Andes hantavirus, which caused an outbreak on a cruise ship and has gripped the world’s attention, spreads among people. “You have to be in close contact with someone who has a lot of symptoms,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview on Fox News. But scientists who have studied hantaviruses for decades are far less certain about how the virus might behave. (Mandavilli, 5/14)

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News, said the media and even some public health officials are missing key elements of the hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship. During a Q&A with CIDRAP News, he explained how and why superspreaders are key to understanding the Andes strain of hantavirus, why close proximity is only part of the consideration, and why he doesn’t think this outbreak is the next “big one.” (Soucheray, 5/14)

Concerns about rising hantavirus cases has Americans reflecting on the coronavirus pandemic. Although COVID-19 began with a foreign strain and spread rapidly around the world, experts say it’s not likely that hantavirus will behave the same way. The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact. (Stabile, 5/14)

As the Trump administration sought to reassure Americans this week that a hantavirus outbreak posed little risk to the public, Dr. Brian Christine, one of the top public health officials in charge of infectious disease policy, stood before reporters in Nebraska promising a response “grounded in science” and “grounded in transparency.” (Kaczynskl, 5/15)

Six passengers from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak arrived Friday in Australia for a quarantine expected to last at least three weeks. The Gulfstream long-range business jet carrying them from the Netherlands landed at RAAF Base Pearce outside the Western Australia state capital, Perth. The passengers, crew and a doctor who accompanied them were taken by bus to the nearby Bullsbrook quarantine facility. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said the government would implement one of world’s strongest quarantine responses to the outbreak. (McGuirk, 5/15)

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s sweeping demands for confidential transgender patient information from Rhode Island’s largest hospital that provides gender-affirming care to minors. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy’s Wednesday ruling is the latest setback for the U.S. Department of Justice, where at least seven other federal courts have agreed to quash or limit the expansive civil subpoenas sent to more than 20 doctors and hospitals last summer. (Kruesi, 5/14)

The Justice Department sent a letter to Yale School of Medicine on Thursday, alleging it was illegally discriminating against applicants who are not Black or Hispanic, following a similar missive sent last week to the University of California, Los Angeles medical school. (Oza, 5/15)

Stakeholders across the board are calling for a return to regular order at the FDA following the resignation of Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, who said he resigned in protest over the agency's decision to authorize flavored e-cigarettes. At a Future of Health Summit on Wednesday, Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said, "I think what we really need from the next leader of the FDA is to calm the waters and re-establish that certainty and predictability." (Firth, 5/14)

���ϳԹ��� News: FDA Blocked Melanoma Drug As Confusion Reigned Under Makary

The FDA’s recent decision to withhold approval of a new skin cancer treatment fell like a hammer on doctors who treat melanoma and patients who saw that the drug had prolonged the lives of a third of the participants in a clinical trial. “It was devastating news,” said Trisha Wise-Draper, a dermatologist at the University of Cincinnati who had patients enrolled in the trial.“ This is life or death for maybe 2,000 patients,” added Eric Whitman, medical director of the Atlantic Health System’s oncology service. A Wall Street Journal editorial assailed the ruling, noting that it “will have a chilling effect on drug development.” (Allen, 5/15)

���ϳԹ��� News' ‘What The Health?’ Podcast: In Search Of A New FDA Commissioner

As had been rumored for weeks, Marty Makary is out as commissioner of the FDA after a chaotic 13 months presiding over drama in every corner of the agency. That leaves Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services with three senior vacancies: FDA commissioner, surgeon general, and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All must pass through the Senate committee chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who has had a troubled relationship with Kennedy and President Donald Trump. (Rovner, 5/14)

The FDA on Wednesday approved a new all-oral regimen for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in patients ineligible for intensive chemotherapy. (Ingram, 5/14)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to roll back limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent the release of toxic heavy metals into streams and rivers through polluted groundwater, saying a three-year-old rule is unduly costly for the energy industry at a time when energy demand is spiking. It is the latest step that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power and empower fossil fuels as a primary energy source to feed the rapid growth of artificial intelligence data centers. (Levy, 5/14)

Over a recent breakfast, U.S. officials had a message for the German ambassador: pay more for pharmaceuticals. The meeting, between U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, chief health department adviser Chris Klomp, and German Ambassador Jens Hanefeld, was part of a larger push from the Trump administration to get other countries to pay more for medications as the U.S. pays less, according to a person familiar with the meeting. (Payne, 5/15)

���ϳԹ��� News: Kennedy, Balancing MAHA And White House, Says He Won’t Run For President In 2028

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is caught between his Make America Healthy Again supporters who want him to do more to advance their priorities, including curtailing vaccines, and a White House trying to combat President Donald Trump’s unpopularity. (Armour and Seitz, 5/15)

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last year to abruptly dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development — once a leading global aid donor — has been followed by a significant increase in violence in several African countries that the agency had supported, according to a study published on Thursday. While the authors did not blame the USAID cuts for the increase in violence, they said the findings demonstrate that “large-scale, sudden aid cuts can destabilize fragile settings.” They, however, added that this is not evidence that more aid reduces conflict, instead it only shows “the effect of a sudden and unexpected disruption.” (McMakin, 5/14)

As part of efforts to phase out the use of monkeys in research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to transfer more than 160 macaques to Born Free USA, a nonprofit that runs a large primate sanctuary in Texas. (Silverman, 5/14)

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress has reintroduced a bill aimed at barring companies from owning both a pharmacy benefit manager and retail pharmacies. The bill, called the Patients Before Monopolies (PBM) Act, would force conglomerates that include a PBM to divest pharmacies that they own. The legislation has existed in some form since 2024, and since its first introduction, Arkansas has implemented a similar legislation at the state level. (Minemyer, 5/14)

Reps. Don Davis (D-N.C.) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said Thursday the House is prepared to pass legislation supporting wider access to genetically targeted technologies (GTTs) that can treat conditions like heart disease, with the current challenge of getting it on the “front burner” in the Senate. Appearing at The Hill’s “Protecting Patients from America’s No. 1 Killer” event, sponsored by the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health (PACH), Davis and Tenney discussed their bill titled the Maintaining Investments in New Innovation (MINI) Act, which would legislate when genetically targeted technologies can be eligible for Medicare drug price negotiation. (Choi, 5/14)

Senators unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers after a string of record-breaking impasses in the past year. The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty. (Cappelletti and Jalonick, 5/14)

Physicians remain skeptical that health insurers' pledges to ease prior authorization hassles will result in any meaningful action, an American Medical Association (AMA) survey found. In June 2025, a group of about 60 insurers said that they would standardize electronic prior authorization by the end of 2026 to help speed up the process. They also said they would reduce the scope of claims subject to medical prior authorization, and would honor the pre-approvals of a previous insurer for a window of time after someone switches plans. (Frieden, 5/14)

Health insurance companies including UnitedHealth Group and Elevance Health are bolstering their reserves to safeguard against tougher times ahead. Several major insurers conveyed confidence and raised earnings guidance when announcing their first-quarter financial results, suggesting the industry is surmounting challenges that have squeezed earnings in recent years. That’s put companies such as the UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health and Alignment Healthcare in a position to stockpile cash after they raised premiums and cut down on spending. (Tong, 5/14)

CVS Health secured court approval to sell its long-term care pharmacy business, Omnicare, according to a May 14 news release and bankruptcy court filings. GenieRx, a partnership between a private investment firm and a healthcare investment and management firm, is buying the subsidiary. The transaction’s closing cash consideration is $250 million. (Casolo, 5/14)

The union representing thousands of University of California medical and service workers reached a tentative labor agreement with UC early Thursday, narrowly averting an open-ended strike that had threatened to disrupt care at five medical centers and 10 campuses across the state. About 40,000 members of AFSCME Local 3299 had been set to walk out in a labor dispute centered on pay and housing benefits for UC’s lowest-paid employees. Among those prepared to strike were radiology, lab and ultrasound technicians, respiratory and mental health therapists and nurses’ aides, as well as campus custodians, groundskeepers, security guards and food workers. (Asimov, 5/14)

The Cleveland Clinic is pushing back on a report that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. operated a robotic arm during a patient’s heart surgery on a recent visit to the medical center, clarifying that he was merely an observer. “He briefly observed a robotic heart surgery as part of a broader tour, which included a demonstration using a disconnected teaching console that was unable to perform any surgical functions,” a spokesperson for the clinic told The Hill in a statement on Thursday. “He played no role in the patient’s care,” they added. (Brams, 5/14)

CMS updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating this week, with the bulk of facilities sitting in the middle of the pack. Overall, 385 (12%) rated hospitals earned top marks with five stars, while 204 (6.4%) received only one star, according to CMS. (Henderson, 5/14)

Day Kimball Hospital has for years sought a partner to help support its operations in northeastern Connecticut, a rural area dappled with farms and lined with two-lane roads. After failed negotiations with multiple health systems, Day Kimball has found a match in UConn Health, a Farmington, Connecticut-based integrated academic medical center. Last month, UConn Health signed letters of intent to acquire Putnam, Connecticut-based Day Kimball, in addition to Bristol, Connecticut-based Bristol Health. (Hudson, 5/14)

Epic grew its market share last year, even as fewer providers made electronic health record purchase decisions. Smaller health systems and midsize standalone hospitals drove the increase, with the vendor adding nearly 50 customers from these categories, according to a Thursday report from market research firm KLAS. Epic in 2025 expanded its acute-care hospital market share to 44%, compared with 42% the previous year. (Famakinwa, 5/14)

Robbie Price, a Centra Health nurse practitioner based in Bedford County, has seen a lot of ways to take notes during his two decades of work in healthcare. Simple handwriting. Microrecorders. Voice recognition software. Now there’s something new: an artificial intelligence-powered “ambient digital scribe.” Price said it’s been “transformational on the clinical end.” (Schabacker and Busse, 5/15)

The World Health Organization's (WHO’s) annual health statistics report paints a sobering picture. Too many people are dying of preventable causes, while hard-fought gains are losing steam or even reversing, said Yukiko Nakatani, MD, PhD, the WHO's assistant director‑general for health systems, access and data. (Boden, 5/14)

Making high-stakes decisions and dealing with the rules of engagement hits differently for U.S. service members who were exposed to human suffering and sanctioned lethal force. For some, experiences that deeply conflicted with moral beliefs left them with what we now call moral injury. The concept of moral injury came to light through the work of psychiatrist Jonathan Shay with Vietnam Veterans back in the 1990s. Today, an estimated 955,000 military veterans experience moral injury and more than 1 million have a service-connected disability for PTSD. While the two may have similarities, they are different. (O'Brien, 5/15)

The number of women skipping sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for early breast cancer doubled over a 5-year period to become the predominant strategy for low-risk disease, a prospective study showed. (Bankhead, 5/14)

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing is likely to reduce the risk of death from prostate cancer, found a new review published on Thursday by an influential international science research organization — a shift in medical evidence that could encourage wider use. (Merelli, 5/14)

More than half of pilots killed in US civil aviation accidents between 2018 and 2022 tested positive for at least one drug, the US National Transportation Safety Board said in a report published Thursday. Of the 984 pilots who died in crashes and other fatal events, tests in about 29% of cases detected “potentially impairing drugs” that could diminish a pilot’s performance, the report said. (Versprille, 5/14)

Two high-profile doctors are urging policymakers to support autonomous vehicle deployment, arguing the technology is already saving lives and should be a public health imperative. (Muller, 5/14)

At least 12 people in Buckingham County have contracted measles, marking Virginia’s first confirmed outbreak this year, according to a May 13 letter to doctors from the Virginia Department of Health. (Schabacker, 5/15)

Highly pathogenic avian flu has affected a handful of commercial poultry operations recently, per the latest updates from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). In the past 30 days, the virus has been detected among eight commercial and six backyard flocks, affecting a total of 250,000 birds. (Soucheray, 5/14)

An Ebola outbreak in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo linked to 65 deaths and hundreds of suspected infections has triggered concerns the disease could spread across borders. About 246 cases have been reported, with preliminary testing detecting Ebola virus in 13 of 20 samples, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Regional health officials convened an urgent meeting to coordinate a response while sequencing continues to determine the strain, it said. (Gale, 5/15)

On a typical day, after a protein coffee, a workout, a sauna session and a multitasking moment of red-light therapy and prayer, Kayla Barnes-Lentz takes a walk in Texas’ early-morning light to reset her circadian rhythm. Today she’s had to truncate this routine — she’s on the road for work — but standing atop one of San Francisco’s many hills, eyes closed, palms outstretched, chin tilted upward, she still makes time to take in the rising sun. It’s a practice, she is quick to explain, backed by science. Barnes-Lentz is a longevity influencer and entrepreneur who’s built a following by treating her own body as a one-woman laboratory. (Brown, 5/14)

Two toxic contaminants present in California’s ambient air appear to be much stronger carcinogens than previously known, state environmental health officials announced Thursday. The draft finding from the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment finds that acrolein and ethylene oxide may pose an estimated cancer risk more than 10 times higher than benzene, a serious carcinogen linked to leukemia and other cancers. (Smith, 5/14)

A top regulator for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division acknowledged in a private meeting with industry representatives that the amount of chemically converted hemp being illegally sold as marijuana is far greater than the agency has publicly disclosed. (Osher, 5/15)

While teen tobacco use in Michigan remains far below historic highs, data shows it’s beginning to rise again, fueling renewed calls to boost prevention spending that has fallen far short of federal recommendations. Tobacco use among high school students rose to 16.5% in 2023, up from 14% in 2021, according to the most recent data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. E-cigarettes were the most common form of tobacco used by Michigan high schoolers, including 11% of males and 19% of females, and use of both cigarettes and chewing tobacco products also rose slightly. (James, 5/14)

Until recently, young children ran in and out of their public housing homes in this Gulf Coast town, playing on sun-dappled lawns as mothers looked over their shoulders for the school bus to drop off their older kids. ... Within weeks, the neighborhood was a ghost town and the playground was empty. What prompted the mass exodus was a bungled message from the housing authority in Port Isabel, a South Texas community of 5,000 people, many of whom are immigrants working at hotels and restaurants on the beaches of nearby South Padre Island. The Port Isabel Housing Authority indicated a Trump administration proposal was about to take effect that would end housing assistance to families with at least one member in the country illegally. (Gonzalez, 5/15)

The Missouri legislature sent a nearly 200-page health care bill to Gov. Mike Kehoe on Thursday that includes adding doula services to Medicaid coverage and allows 12-month prescriptions for oral contraceptives. By a 116-21 vote, the House approved legislation to allow patients to start their care through telemedicine, rather than a physical examination, whenever possible. (Halloran, 5/14)

���ϳԹ��� News: Minnesota Lawmaker Proposes Using Hospital Tax To Fill Charity Care Gap

Minnesota lawmakers are wrestling with how to sustain the state’s financially distressed hospitals while patients confront growing medical debt. One Minnesota lawmaker wants to steer money from an existing healthcare tax back to hospitals so they can expand their charity care programs for patients who can’t afford their bills. The proposal follows a Minnesota Star Tribune-���ϳԹ��� News investigation that found hospitals across the state spend far less on charity care than hospitals in many other states, and use widely different standards to decide who qualifies for free or discounted care. (Olson, 5/15)

Wyoming is dropping a proposal to stretch out more than a billion dollars of federal health dollars for decades to come. Late last year, the federal government awarded the state $205 million for the first year of the Rural Health Transformation Program. The state expects to get a similar amount for the next five years. Since then, the state and the federal government have been figuring out specifics about how money will be spent. One sticky point has been a “perpetuity fund.” (Merzbach, 5/14)

A documentary centered on a small Mississippi River parish had been racking up awards, earning prizes at film festivals in San Francisco, London and Milan. But when residents of St. John the Baptist Parish tried to screen “The Big Sea” at a publicly owned theater during Black History Month, Parish President Jaclyn Hotard intervened, shutting down the event without explanation. (Baurick, 5/14)

A top California Democratic political aide pleaded guilty Thursday to charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud related to a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra when he served as the federal health secretary. The case has drawn attention to Becerra in his bid for California governor, with voting underway and concluding June 2. Several of Becerra’s rivals blasted him over the scandal at a televised debate Thursday night, trying to make him appear unfit for office. Becerra punched back, noting he hasn’t been implicated. “Accept the facts,” he said. (5/15)

Much of the public debate over cancer blood tests has focused on early detection products like the Galleri test from a company called Grail, which promises to screen healthy people for more than 50 types of cancer. While these tests capture headlines and Super Bowl ads, the more proven opportunity for investors has been in a less glamorous market: checking for cancer recurrence. (Wainer, 5/14)

The first panic attack Quinn Pulsipher remembers having was at 8 years old. They describe it as “a pitch-black ghost that hugs them all over and tries to control their mind.” At the beach on vacation with their family, the wind suddenly picked up, and Quinn began hyperventilating, screaming and crying uncontrollably. Nothing could calm them down. After that first episode, the panic attacks occurred whenever there was a storm, sometimes even when there was just a light breeze. By the time Quinn was 14, they were “spiraling down.” They began failing most of their classes. They rarely left their room, even avoiding going to the store with their mom. Quinn, who is nonbinary, said the deterioration of their mental health was related to the rejection they received for their identity. (Gliadkovskaya and Donndelinger, 5/12)

The voyage was marketed for explorers eager to venture to “the edges of the map,” from Antarctica to some of the most remote islands in the world. It would be a tantalizing trip for tourists with an appetite for adventure — less about trips to the spa and lounging by the pool than a chance to see landscapes few humans have ever laid eyes upon. (Lin II, 5/14)

All Jillian wanted was to regain control of her drinking. At 38, she knew alcohol had already cost her a marriage and begun to threaten her career. What had started as typical college-age shenanigans had morphed into regularly overindulging at professional happy hours, and eventually into an all-day urge to drink. Most days, a bottle of vodka journeyed from standing full in a cabinet to laying empty in a recycling bin. (Facher, 5/14)

Helina Josephson retired from a career in university administration in 2017 due to autoimmune disease and chronic pain. She has ice pick headaches, which are exactly what they sound like — sudden, stabbing pain in her head. She has arthritis in her hips. (Luterman, 5/13)

Two millenniums ago, in the foothills of ancient Greece, the physician and philosopher Hippocrates described pregnancy in terms of bread-making. In the thousands of years since, “a bun in the oven” has emerged as a euphemistic image for childbearing. That is, until a study suggested, in 2019, that pregnancy more closely resembles completing an ultramarathon. (Hew-Low, 5/12)

An analysis of ancient teeth is giving scientists a rare peek into interactions between human relatives hundreds of thousands of years ago that have left a lasting imprint on our species. A new study reveals genetic clues about a human ancestor called Homo erectus. H. erectus arose in Africa about 2 million years ago and spread to other parts of the globe, including Asia and possibly Europe. (Ramakrishnan, 5/13)

At the ripe old age of 73, I take six drugs — four prescription and two over-the-counter pills — every day. I keep careful track of them. But recently, when I received a refill, I noticed my blue pill was now yellow. I was startled, but this was not the first time my pills had morphed into different colors. (Barbara Wolf, 5/15)

The Trump administration is going after harm reduction. (Maia Szalavitz, 5/14)

Sleep apnea affects approximately 1 out of 8 people worldwide, and people often remain in the dark about what’s going on. (Ken Paller, 5/15)

There are low-hanging fruit to make medications for seniors safer. (Leana S. Wen, 5/14)

Two weeks ago, one of the most important scientists of the 20th century died. Craig Venter was a legend in genomics — a self-styled maverick who made a career of challenging institutional science and its methods and assumptions. (Zachary Utz, 5/15)