4 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Health

Mia Sato
Mia Sato
“We don’t wear masks” in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

We’re listening to testimony from one of the responding officers who arrested Luigi Mangione in a Pennsylvania McDonalds. The officer testified that Mangione’s medical face mask made him stand out as the person who was reported as being suspicious.

“We don’t wear masks” in the city, officer Joseph Detwiler told the court. “We have antibodies.” This elicited an audible reaction from the audience.

The dark side of optimizing your metabolism

There are known benefits to tracking your glucose levels, but it can also be a slippery slope into disordered eating.

Victoria Song
AI has no idea what I’m eating

Food logging is tedious enough without AI making stuff up.

Victoria Song
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Now everyone can tell Whoop about their blood.

The wearable company offers paid blood tests to US users through its Advanced Labs feature, which launched in September. But now users worldwide can upload their blood results into the app for free, and see biomarkers alongside their daily data. Whoop-organized tests will roll out internationally “in the coming months.”

Photo of woman wearing a Whoop band, overlaid with graphic of her “biomarkers.”
DIY biomarkers.
Image: Whoop
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Doctors use robot for transatlantic stroke surgery.

The world-first saw a surgeon remotely remove a blood clot from a human cadaver in Dundee, Scotland, all the way from Jacksonville, Florida. It’s been hailed as a breakthrough, and potential life-saver if approved for use on patients.

Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Seven more people are suing OpenAI.

The lawsuits, filed in California, are just the latest to claim ChatGPT harmed loved ones and led to mental health breakdowns. Four died by suicide after interacting with the bot.

Zocdoc CEO: ‘Dr. Google is going to be replaced by Dr. AI’

Oliver Kharraz on competition, healthcare, and where AI really belongs in medicine.

Nilay Patel
Adi Robertson
Adi Robertson
Is your protein powder full of lead?

If you’re using one of 23 popular supplements, some cool and thorough investigative work at Consumer Reports can tell you the answer is probably yes — and explain why US health regulators aren’t doing anything about it.

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Tell us how you’re managing your kids’ screen time.

The Pew Research Center published a study of how parents are managing their kids’ screen time. Which got us wondering: how are you, dear reader, managing your kids’ screen time? Do you have time limits for video games? A “kid-safe” phone like Gabb? Do you let your eight-year-old talk to ChatGPT? Let us know in the comments.

Poll showing what percentage of parents know their children interact with various technologies:90% - TV68% - Tablet61% - Smartphone50% - Gaming device39% - Desktop or laptop37% - Voice-activated assistant11% - Smartwatch8% - AI chatbots
Pew Research Center
Justine Calma
Justine Calma
Researchers fertilized human eggs made from skin cells.

The embryos all had chromosomal abnormalities and weren’t meant to lead to a pregnancy. But the results open up questions about potential infertility treatments in the future.

Justine Calma
Justine Calma
The Trump administration plans to update the label on the painkiller acetaminophen to dissuade pregnant people from taking it.

Trump and RFK are blaming the painkiller acetaminophen for autism without conclusive scientific evidence.

RFK also claims that leucovorin, a type of folate, can be used to treat autism. The FDA is also planning to approve prescription leucovorin for the treatment of autism in children. “The evidence that it works is scant,” NPR reports.

Anker’s latest sleepbuds can silence snoring

7

Verge Score

Good for side-sleepers but ANC kills battery life.

Thomas Ricker
Justine Calma
Justine Calma
A former chemical industry lawyer is at the EPA now, trying to scrap a ‘forever chemical’ rule.

“If they overturn this, it would leave the public responsible for cleaning up, not the companies that knowingly polluted the land,” University of California, San Francisco professor Tracey Woodruff tells The New York Times, which first reported on the proposal.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Is Apple’s fitness chief a jerk?

Apple says no, but a lawsuit accuses Jay Blahnik of creating a toxic work environment, reports The New York Times:

When confronted with Mr. Blahnik’s behavior, Apple moved to protect him after an internal investigation. The company settled one complaint alleging sexual harassment by Mr. Blahnik and is fighting a lawsuit by an employee, Mandana Mofidi, who said he had bullied her.

Fitbit’s AI health coach is the first I might actually be interested in

It’s a complete overhaul of the Fitbit app, centered around the concept of adjustable, conversational coaching.

Victoria Song
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
RFK Jr.‘s MAHA draft includes a study on electromagnetic radiation.

The draft, obtained by Politico last week, outlines the health secretary’s plan to “make our children healthy again.” As spotted by Ars Technica, that apparently includes a study to “identify gaps in knowledge” on the same kind of radiation emitted by 5G towers and Wi-Fi routers — a common subject of conspiracy theories.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
RFK Jr.: ‘Trusting the experts is not science.’

That was the US Health Secretary’s explanation regarding the administration’s decision to cancel millions of dollars in mRNA vaccine contracts.

“You can’t control the amount of energy that everybody is getting” when giving vaccines, he said. Your guess is as good as mine.

RFK Jr. wants a wearable on every American — that future’s not as healthy as he thinks

I’ve lived in that future. Before my health improved, I spiraled into obsession, injury, and disordered eating.

Victoria Song