Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! In fact American scientific‘s fast science I’m Rachel Feltman. We’ll start the week by reporting on the latest science news.
First up, we’ve got a quick update from Tanya Lewis, senior editor covering health and medicine American scientific. He’s here to break down the news that President-elect Donald Trump plans to put Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. The following is a short interview that Tanya and I recorded a couple of days ago.
Tanya, what is RFK, Jr.’s background on health?
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Ask Lewis: RFK, Jr. is an environmental lawyer by training, but has no medical background, and has very strong anti-vaccine views. He has argued that vaccines cause autism, which is, of course, rejected.
He has also made many false and exaggerated claims about the dangers of water fluoridation. He has advocated unproven and potentially dangerous therapies for COVID and chelation therapy like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, which is a method of removing heavy metals from the body for autism and of course it doesn’t work.
He also wants to end what he calls a “war on public health” by the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates raw milk and some unproven stem cell treatments. He also wants to stop the “revolving door” between industry and government and regulate ultra-processed foods, although it’s not entirely clear how he would do these things.
Feltman: And what does it really mean to be nominated for this role?
Lewis: I think his appointment suggests that the Trump administration has very little regard for established medical science. His views on vaccines and fluoride run counter to the consensus of most public health experts and decades of research into their safety and effectiveness.
And it is still not clear that the Senate will even confirm it, so that agenda may not even have a chance to be implemented.
Feltman: Assuming, you know, he manages to get into this role, what kind of power would he actually have?
Lewis: So HHS, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, will be responsible for the FDA, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), (National Institutes of Health) and almost every other health department. he would have tremendous power to fire people, hire people, and completely restructure those agencies. It could also fill FDA and CDC advisory panels with vaccine skeptics, which of course would probably be a bad thing because these agencies are charged with protecting people’s health and vaccines are a big part of that.
One interesting thing about RFK, Jr. is that he has a very long history of being pro-abortion. He has said in the past that he would support abortion up to the ninth month, although I think he has backed off a bit on that. But his pro-abortion stance could get in the way of confirmation by a relatively conservative Congress.
Feltman: What kind of decisions and restrictions and allowances can this agency group make?
Lewis: So, as head of HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. would oversee the FDA, the agency responsible for ensuring that all drugs on the market are rigorously tested for safety and effectiveness. And he would be in charge of the CDC, which has a huge role to play in protecting the public health of Americans, not just during pandemics, but, you know, in everyday life, constantly warning people. So it is a very important role. NIH would also be responsible for the National Institutes of Health, which is the main source of government funding for biomedical research. And he would also be responsible for other smaller government health agencies that have very important tasks.
Feltman: Tanya, thank you so much for coming to break this all down for us.
Lewis: Yes, thank you so much for being me.
Feltman: In other national health news The US Surgeon General released a new report on tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure last Tuesday. The report says that although smoking in the US has fallen by more than 70% since 1965, this decline has not benefited all Americans equally. American Indians and Alaska Natives have higher smoking rates than other ethnic and racial groups, and people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual are more likely to smoke than their straight counterparts. The report also found that those living in poverty are nearly twice as likely to smoke as those living above the poverty line. What’s worse is that some of these disparities have widened since 2000. The story is similar when it comes to secondhand smoke exposure. Although the number of related deaths has more than halved since 2006, exposure to secondhand tobacco remains disproportionately high for blacks, adults with lower education levels, children, and those with lower incomes.
The report attributes these disparities to a number of factors, including tobacco marketing campaigns aimed at specific groups and neighborhoods, and stress and financial barriers to treatment. So, in addition to standard smoking cessation policies, the report calls for policies to address disparities in health care and education in general. If you or someone you love is ready to stop smoking, you can find resources to help by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visiting SmokeFree.gov.
OK, now it’s time to zoom out, and then zoom back in for some space news. Last Thursday astronomers presented the first close-up of a star Milky way galaxy outside. This distant celestial body is 2,000 times larger than our sun, and is located within a galaxy that orbits around us. Don’t get too excited by the sight: it looks like a shiny ball surrounded by a slightly less shiny oval. But scientists are quite enthusiastic about the ring, which they believe may be linked to an explosion of material ejected from the star before it went supernova. The new images reveal that the star has been dimming over the past decade, supporting the theory that it is shedding material and reaching the end of its life.
To end on a playful note, let’s look at a couple of new studies on one of our closest animal relatives: chimpanzees, of course. Although, inadvertently, I hated it when people forget that bonobos are ours too other closest animal cousins, but these studies are about chimpanzees, so I won’t go into my whole bonobo rant.
First examReleased last Wednesday, it focuses on a phenomenon known as social pollution. Then a behavior, idea, or emotion spreads through a social network—for example, a contagious laugh. The researchers spent hundreds of hours watching the chimpanzees engage in so-called affiliative behaviors: things that promote positive social engagement. In this case, these affiliative behaviors were grooming and playing with each other. The research suggests that both activities are subject to social contagion: individuals were more likely to initiate these behaviors after seeing other chimpanzees doing the same. The researchers hope that understanding how contagious behaviors affect a group’s social cohesion can help us better understand how and why this imitation phenomenon evolved.
Another study, published last ThursdayHe investigated the social play of adults in chimpanzees. While children obviously play more than adults in the human world, most adults still play, be it in the form of a local softball league or a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The researchers behind the new study say adult play in non-human animals is thought to be rare, but work examining these chimps suggests otherwise. Scientists studied 57 wild adult chimpanzees and found that the animals regularly played with each other. They fought and chased each other, including making what chimpanzee researchers call “play faces.” This expression is often compared to a smile, although it does not look like a human smile. In fact, iIf you ever see a chimp whiten all his teethassume they are distressed. A happy chimpanzee will cover the upper teeth while leaving the mouth open, exposing the lower teeth.
What’s cool about this study is that adult chimpanzees tended to play together before doing things that required group cooperation, such as defending their territory from the outside or going hunting. They were more likely to act out when things got tense due to team competition or fighting. In other words, walking around seems to be an important part of keeping this chimpanzee community together. While the researchers aren’t sure how the entire species uses play, they hope to study other wild groups to find out. But I don’t think you should wait for that follow-up before planning your next game night.
That’s all for this week’s news roundup. We’ll be back on Wednesday to talk about the psychology behind Black Friday shopping, and how to keep all that marketing from hijacking your brain. And to give you a heads up, we’ll be taking a break on Friday and next Monday to post new episodes.
Fast Science produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was directed by Anaissa Ruiz Tejada. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck check out our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. subscribe American scientific for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.
In fact american scientific this is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!
