A mixed bag for private spaceflight, a new species of spider, and the health risks of alcohol
We discuss a big week of commercial spaceflight, the ban on red dye, and a scary species of spider in this news roundup.
Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/American scientific
(CLIP: “It Doesn’t End Here (Instrumental)” by Nehemiah Pratt)
Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! In fact American scientific‘s Fast ScienceI’m Rachel Feltman. We’re kicking off the week with science news you might have missed.
Last Tuesday the US Health and Human Services Committee released a new draft report on alcohol. Review of existing data just one drink a day is linked to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, oral cancer and esophageal cancer. The panel also found that alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of death from seven types of cancer. And it’s not the first time the health effects of alcohol have grabbed headlines in 2025: this month, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. argued that alcoholic beverages should come with cancer warning labels.
About supporting science journalism
If you like this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism subscribing. By purchasing a subscription, you’re helping to ensure a future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas that shape our world.
The report also found some opposite associations: people who drank one drink a day had a lower risk of ischemic stroke than those who did not, and women who consumed one, two or three drinks a day had a lower risk of diabetes. But these apparent benefits are variable. A lower risk of ischemic stroke, for example, can disappear even if people occasionally drink four or five drinks in one sitting. And women who consumed two alcoholic beverages a day had a lower risk of diabetes overall, but also significantly higher risks of ischemic stroke and liver disease.
So the details may seem confusing, but the takeaway is simple enough: you definitely shouldn’t treat drinking as a way to improve your health or use the supposed benefits you’ve read about to justify your intake. The position of the World Health Organization is that the level of alcohol consumption is not safe for your health. Of course, we all do many things that are strictly not good for us. But in light of this new report, we should try to consider how alcohol fits into the bigger picture of our lifestyles. In the future, no doubt, there will be headlines that say it is good for red wine x, y or Nobut these headlines never mean that you should drink more alcohol than you currently drink.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday It was banned by the US Food and Drug Administration 3. the use of red dye in food, drinks and ingestible medicines. The petroleum-based dye was banned from use in cosmetics and topicals in 1990 after laboratory tests on rodents showed it could have carcinogenic effects at high doses. Food manufacturers will have until January 2027 to reformulate their products without red number 3, and companies that make oral medicines will have until January 2028.
The promotion teams in 2022 Red Dye No. 3 filed a ban request with the FDA, and the agency concluded that the dye violates something called the Delaney Clause, a part of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that the FDA has not authorized. any additive that causes cancer in humans or other animals. But we have to keep that in mind reporting Stat Newsthe mechanism by which the dye causes cancer in male rats is not applicable to humans.
(CLIP: “Let There Be Rain”, by Silver Maple)
Feltman: In other public health news, a team More than 50 experts publishing Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology the magazine He argued last week that the current diagnosis of ‘obesity’ is flawed. The use of the body mass index or BMI as a determinant of health has been gradually for a long time, and these researchers propose. more accurate measurements of excess body fat. They also suggest putting those who meet the definition of obesity but don’t have conditions that can sometimes be associated with being overweight (such as diabetes or heart disease) into a separate category from people who are already struggling. those health problems. Researchers say this will help doctors provide more nuanced care, though it’s not entirely clear how it would address weight stigma in medicine. To learn more about how size bias affects health care, Watch our November 8 episode about the subject
And now some space. Last Wednesday a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched with two new lunar landers. The two plots were created by two different private companies and released in slightly different orbits.
(CLIP: “The Farm,” by Silver Maple)
Feltman: It is an SUV-sized landing gear from the Japanese company ispace. The other comes from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace. Named the Blue Ghost moon plot, It carries payloads for 10 different NASA experiments. Blue Ghost is expected to reach the lunar surface in about 45 days.
That wasn’t the only gain in commercial space last week. On Thursday morning, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launched for the first time. The upper stage of the rocket put it into orbitwhich technically made the launch a success. But Blue Origin didn’t handle the extra credit of the study very well: They tried and failed to land the rocket’s reusable booster on a waiting ship in the Atlantic. But considering that New Glenn was originally supposed to launch in 2020, this SpaceX competitor is probably happy to get the win.
Back to SpaceX, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for them last week either. On Thursday evening the company conducted the seventh test launch of the Starship vehicle. The megarocket’s second stage, carrying a mock satellite test payload, exploded a few minutes after take off. According to a social media post by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, a leak was likely to blame, and the company is planning another launch next month.
We’re going to end with a pretty wild one. Have you ever thought about Australian spiders and thought, “No, that’s not big or venomous enough for me”? Well, the scientists have you covered.
Last Monday, researchers announced the discovery of a new species of funnel web spider. It is a close relative of the Sydney funnel web spider, known for its painful bites that can cause serious illness and even death. This new species, which scientists have nicknamed “Big Guy,” can—you guessed it—grow.It is almost twice as long as other funnel web spiders and also has larger fangs and venom glands.. So have fun with it, Australia!
(CLIP: Theme music)
Feltman: That’s all for this week’s news roundup. We’ll be back with another episode on Wednesday.
Fast Science produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. 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 scientificthis is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!
