Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

Why AI Companies Are Racing to Build a Virtual Human Cell

A human cell is a Rube Goldberg machine like no other, full of biological chain reactions that make the difference between life and death. Understanding these delicate relationships and how they go wrong in disease is one of the central fascinations of biology. A single mistake in a gene can bend the protein it makes into the wrong shape. A misshapen protein can’t do its job. And for want of that protein, the organism–you–may start to fall apart.

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Cells are so complex, however, that getting a sense of how one protein’s failure spreads through the system is tough. Graham Johnson, a computational biologist and scientific illustrator at the Allen Institute for Cell Science, recalls fantasizing at a lunch table, more than 15 years ago, about a computer model of a cell so detailed, so complete, that scientists could watch such processes happening. At that time, “everyone just snickered,” he says. “It was just too unrealistic.”

But now some researchers are..

CDC ‘Not Functional’ After Trump Administration Orders Mass Firings

Hundreds of employees were fired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late on Friday, as the Trump Administration made good on its promise to begin mass layoffs in response to a prolonged government shutdown.

Some 1,300 employees received notices that they would be let go, among them leaders in departments related to respiratory diseases, chronic diseases, injury prevention and global health, the New York Times reported. Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, also known as “disease detectives”, the entire staff and editors of the CDC’s publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), and the agency’s Washington office were all notified of their termination, according to the report.

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The layoffs prompted outrage from public health experts. But in a move that has sown further confusion at the agency, hundreds of those employees were later told their dismissals were rescinded.

It comes as the CDC is still reeli..

As the Flu Surges in Asia, Could Getting Sick Year-Round Be the New Normal?

The Brief October 10, 2025What to know about Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, the recent rise of influenza cases in Asia, and morePodcast ID – Short Length: 9ff1c61f-1f81-4c32-b95e-b052882f3a7f
Podcast ID – Long Length: 9ff1c61f-1f81-4c32-b95e-b052882f3a7f

A surge of influenza cases in countries across Asia has led some medical experts to warn that getting sick more easily throughout the year may be the new reality.

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Health authorities in Japan declared a nationwide flu epidemic on Oct. 3 after a wave of flu cases came five weeks earlier than expected for flu season, the country’s second-earliest flu outbreak in 20 years. More than 4,000 people in Japan were treated for influenza between Sept. 22 and Sept. 28. The country’s Ministry of Health said that equated to an average of 1.04 patients per monitored medical institution, surpassing the threshold for an epidemic. The number of patients treated for influenza has since increased to over..

How Tracking Your Health Metrics Can Help You Live Longer

Zahi Fayad practices what he preaches. As a professor of radiology and director of the biomedical engineering and imaging institute at Mount Sinai, Fayad is leading a study investigating how our health data can be put to better use to help us live healthier, and by extension, longer. At his lab in New York City, he recently showed off his current go-to digital health devices (which rotate as new gadgets become available): an Oura Ring and a Garmin watch. He also uses an ECG strap to measure his heart rate every day, and occasionally pops on a continuous glucose monitor to keep track of his glucose levels.

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Fayad is convinced that the trend of collecting more health data, on a more continuous basis—which the explosion of wearables made possible—will revolutionize health care. Keeping on top of risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity could help not just doctors but all health-conscious consumers identify when these ..

These 4 Words Can Defuse Any Awkward Situation

When something so awkward happens that you can only stare at the ground, hoping it will open up and swallow you, saving you from the cringe, the best thing you can do is…call more attention to it. Yes, really.

That means uttering these four words: “Well, that was awkward!” Or: “That was certainly honest!” In addition to acknowledging the inappropriate or uncomfortable comment and framing it as something positive—the truth—you’re signaling your desire to change the course of the conversation, says Jenny Shields, a psychologist in Houston. The approach works in all sorts of scenarios: farting in polite company, blurting out an “I love you” that takes the recipient aback, enthusiastically waving back at someone who was actually greeting the person behind you, showing someone a cat pic on your phone and accidentally swiping to a nude, and whatever other faux pas you can conjure in your mind’s darkest places.

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“We think ignoring it is going to make it go a..

Why Baby Boxes Are Suddenly Everywhere

DAPHNE, ALA.—The dozens of people gathered at the fire station one June afternoon quieted when the battalion chief dressed in a heavy blue uniform approached the podium. He was there to bless the fire station’s new baby box, a temperature-controlled bassinet installed in the side of the building where parents could safely and anonymously surrender infants that they felt they could not care for. He led the crowd, sweltering in the 90°F heat, in praying over the box: the 18th in Alabama and 344th in the nation.

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“Heavenly Father, we come before you to dedicate this safe haven,” he began. “We know that each and every child placed not only in this cradle, but similar cradles across the country, are children you formed in the womb, and we know that you have a special plan for all of them.”

Afterward, people gathered to take pictures in front of the box, where signs note that a silent alert will activate if a baby is placed in it. A few people discussed the..

11 Things Therapists Wish Every Kid Knew

You never know what’s going to stick in the littlest minds. “Sometimes I’ll have kids tell me something their grandmother or coach said—and it might be something that the rest of us would shrug off, but for that child, it really made an impact,” says Amy Morin, a therapist and author of 13 Things Strong Kids Do. That’s why it’s important for parents to get into the habit of repeating nuggets of wisdom that become mantras bouncing around in their kids’ minds for potentially years to come.

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We asked Morin and other therapists to share the easy-to-remember gems they wish every kid knew.

“Mean people are just showing how they feel about themselves.”

If someone is bullying you, Morin tells her youngest clients, it’s because they feel bad about themselves. “It’s so important for kids to know that if you felt good about yourself, you’d be kind to other people,” she says. “Mean peoples’ words and behaviors are a reflection of what’s going on inside of them, ..

Unlocking the Secrets to Living to 100 

Want to enjoy a long, healthy, and happy life? Just live like a centenarian.

That’s the advice of Stacy Andersen, a behavioral neuroscientist at Boston University and co-director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians and their families in the world.

The study, which has enrolled more than 3,000 centenarians over its 30-year history, has been exploring the genetic factors, lifestyle choices, and environmental influences that appear to play a role in the longevity of people who live to 100 and beyond. The hope is that by studying centenarians, researchers can find treatments, as well as identify habits and environmental factors, that could help everyone live healthier for longer.

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“Our goal is not to get everyone to live to age 100. What we’re trying to understand is: How do you live to whatever age—your 70s, 80s, or 90s—in very good health?” Andersen says.

It turns out that centenarians, on average, don’t smoke, ea..

9 Doctor-Approved Ways to Use ChatGPT for Health Advice

In August, Lance Johnson woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating stomach pain in his lower right side. He initially blamed it on the pizza and ice cream he had enjoyed the night before. But five sleepless hours later, the 17-year-old from Phoenix was still suffering, so he decided to consult the nearest expert: ChatGPT.

“I described what I’d eaten the night before and where the pain was, and I was like, ‘Do you think it’s just my stomach?’ And then it said that it sounded like it was appendicitis based on how long it was lasting and where it was,” Johnson says. “I kept asking it more questions, like could it be anything else? And it said, ‘Based on what you described, you should get it checked out.’”

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Johnson followed the bot’s advice—and, sure enough, the doctors at the emergency room soon said that he did, in fact, have appendicitis and needed immediate surgery. When he told them he had suspected as much because of ChatGPT’s insights, “..

Repeat COVID-19 Infections Could Double Your Risk of Long COVID

Most of us now view COVID-19 as more of a nuisance than a danger, thanks to vaccines and past exposure to the virus—all of which have built up our immunity.

But research suggests that multiple COVID-19 infections pose a risk for developing Long COVID. In the largest Long COVID study of young people to date, scientists led by a team at the University of Pennsylvania report that young people who got infected twice with COVID-19 were twice as likely as those who got COVID-19 once to develop Long COVID symptoms that affect major organs like the heart, kidney, and lungs, as well as taste and smell.

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The ongoing research project, called RECOVER, is funded by the National Institutes of Health and explores the impact of COVID-19 infections on long-term health. Yong Chen, professor of biostatistics and director of the Center for Health AI and Synthesis of Evidence (CHASE) at the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues focused on people 21 and younger to..