Trump Baselessly Claims It Must Be ‘Something Artificially’ Causing Autism

Yahoo Entertainment

OpenAI Makes a Play for Healthcare

Ece Yildirim, Gizmodo.com

The results are mixed on whether healthcare AI will be revolutionary or problematic

Botswana declares public health emergency over medicine shortage

Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English

The crisis is linked to the high price of medicines, a shrinking national budget and cuts in US aid.

Report: RFK Jr. and Trump to Pull Covid-19 Vaccines ‘Within Months’

Ed Cara, Gizmodo.com

Cardiologist Aseem Malhotra claims that the Trump administration will take action to remove mRNA vaccines from the U.S. market later this year.

Killing the Moonlight

Alexander Stille, The New York Review of Books

Electric light, the telephone, radio, the automobile, the movie camera, the airplane: the last years of the nineteenth century and the first years of the twentieth were a blur of technological innovation. In Italy, a provincial, largely agrarian country only …

Scientists Are Caught in a Political Trap

Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic

Fighting back against the Trump administration means they start to look more like activists.

LASIK Without Lasers? Scientists May Have Found a Way

Ed Cara, Gizmodo.com

California scientists have potentially created a non-invasive method of reshaping the cornea.

WATCH: What to know about the plague

ABC News

After a California resident tested positive for the plague, Dr. Alok Patel breaks down what to know about the bacterial infection, which dates back to the 1300s.

COVID Revisionism Has Gone Too Far

Rogé Karma, The Atlantic

If the center and left succumb to the view that “nothing worked,” no one will remain to defend sensible public-health measures the next time a pandemic comes around.

The Covid Vaccine Situation for the Fall Is a Complete Mess

Jason Kottke, kottke.org

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina (aka Your Local Epidemiologist) has a frustrating update on how Covid vaccines are probably going to work thi

I review drones for a living and I’m more excited about the DJI Mini 5 Pro than the Insta360 Antigravity A1 – here’s why

Sam Kieldsen, TechRadar

The rumored DJI Mini 5 Pro may be 'just' another Mini drone, but there are some major reasons to think it'll be a massive game-changer – perhaps more than the Antigravity A1.

Links 8/16/2025

Yves Smith, Nakedcapitalism.com

Our scintillating daily links: demon weed worries, Long Covid. Putin-Trump ho hum, China economy soft, NZ exodus, UK bond wobbles, IDF Gaza green light, Kristi Noem's free house, RIP Schumer? financial repression blowback? Musk, AI tower of Babel, US rich w/ …

Abortion Pills That Give You Superpowers? Women’s Healthcare Is Now the Stuff of Fantasy Films

Alison Foreman, IndieWire

IndieWire spoke with three filmmakers about personal storytelling through genre, from a folk monster hungry for breast milk ("Feed") to vaginoplasty administered by a witch ("The Dysphoria") to a vigilante service worker stuck waiting tables mid-abortion ("Th…

A White House nod boosts the stature of once-shunned MMA

Dan Wetzel, ESPN

Dana White recounts sport's long journey from 'human cockfighting' obscurity to a presidential embrace

Trump Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System

Hannah Richter, Scientific American

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

Veterans Are “Guinea Pigs” in Trump’s First National Abortion Ban Experiment

Jessica Washington, The Intercept

“They’re testing what they want to do with the rest of the country on us,” one veteran told The Intercept. The post Veterans Are “Guinea Pigs” in Trump’s First National Abortion Ban Experiment appeared first on The Intercept.

RFK Jr. Is Supporting mRNA Research—Just Not for Vaccines

Emily Mullin, Wired

HHS is slashing hundreds of millions in funding for mRNA vaccines and infectious disease treatments, but leaving the door open to mRNA therapies for cancer and genetic conditions.

It Claimed to Be One of the Most Successful Rehabs in the U.S. Patients Preferred Prison.

Shoshana Walter, Slate Magazine

Its tactics recall North Korean brainwashing techniques.

Trump says he may reclassify cannabis as less dangerous drug

Al Jazeera Staff, Al Jazeera English

Cannabis stocks soar after US president says he is 'looking at' reclassification.

Here’s Our First Look At The Rumored $1,000 Lego Death Star Set Containing Over 9K Pieces

Zack Zwiezen, Kotaku

The leaked set is rumored to be arriving in October and might be the most expensive Lego set ever sold The post Here’s Our First Look At The Rumored $1,000 Lego Death Star Set Containing Over 9K Pieces appeared first on Kotaku.

Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts Are Ruining Ethiopia's Progress on Maternal Mortality

Danielle Han, Jezebel

And enabling the country's anti-abortion movement.

FDA Rehires Controversial Biologics Chief Just Days After Trump Fired Him

Ed Cara, Gizmodo.com

Vinay Prasad is once again head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, after Laura Loomer led a campaign to have him fired.

‘Dracula’ Review: Radu Jude’s Gloriously Stupid Vampire Epic Is the First Movie to Make Any Meaningful Use of Generative AI

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Locarno: Jude's three-hour joke conflates artificial intelligence with Vlad the Impaler — two undead bloodsuckers that feed on humanity in order to seem alive.

How Kids’ TV Turned Into ‘Preschool Tinder’

Shirley Li, The Atlantic

Deciding what’s enriching for children to watch has become more daunting than ever.