May 3, 2026

05a Health

Schools are struggling to afford costs of free school lunches, and MAHA guidelines may make it worse– fortune.com

pgnewser April 29, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

As more than two-thirds of U.S. public schools say they already can’t sustain free meals for their students, one economist is sounding the alarms and says the Trump administration’s updated dietary guidelines may make these financial troubles even worse.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the government provided 4.8 billion lunches to the nearly 29.4 million students belonging to the National School Lunch Program, at a cost of $17.7 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Part of this sum takes the form of cash reimbursements to schools serving free or reduced-cost food to students, with free lunch costing roughly $4.70 per student per meal.

Many schools, however, say the assistance they receive to feed students the subsidized meals are not enough. A recent survey of more than 1,170 school nutrition directors from the trade group the School Nutrition Association (SNA) found this year, 69.6% reported insufficient reimbursement rates to cover the cost of school lunches, an increase from 67.4% the previous year. More than half of the directors said there is “serious concern” about the financial sustainability of their school nutrition programs over the next three years, up from 46% from the 2024-2025 school year.

Scientists discover how to freeze transplant organs without cracking them– www.sciencedaily.com

pgnewser April 28, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Cryopreservation, the process of preserving biological tissue by cooling it to extremely low temperatures, often sounds like something out of science fiction. In reality, scientists have been studying and refining this technique for nearly a century. Progress remained slow for decades, but that began to change in 2023, when researchers at the University of Minnesota successfully transplanted a cryopreserved kidney into another rat. That milestone demonstrated that frozen organs could one day be used in human transplants.

Despite that progress, preserving larger organs remains a major hurdle. One of the biggest problems is cracking, which can occur when tissues are cooled too quickly. These fractures can damage the organ and make it unusable, making crack prevention a critical goal for advancing organ preservation and transplantation.

A team at Texas A&M University, led by Dr. Matthew Powell-Palm from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, has introduced a new approach aimed at addressing this issue. Their research outlines a method that could reduce the likelihood of cracking during cryopreservation.

Trump Takes Next Step to Legalize Weed

pgnewser April 23, 2026 1

The Trump administration has officially reclassified certain aspects of marijuana as being a Schedule III drug, which removes many federal criminal designations. For now, the designation only applies to state-licensed medical marijuana, though some within the administration hint more is to come.

Trump administration officially reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as Schedule III– www.scientificamerican.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Trump administration officially reclassifies some marijuana products as less dangerous drugs

The Trump administration said this move, which does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law, is just the start of a process to reclassify the drug more broadly

By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron

A bud tender at Private Organic Therapy (P.O.T.), a nonprofit cooperative medical marijuana dispensary, displays various types of marijuana available to patients on October 19, 2009, in Los Angeles.

Updated at 11:40 AM

On Thursday the Trump administration officially reclassified state-licensed medical marijuana products under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The move removes these products from the Schedule I category, which includes what the government considers to be high-risk and dangerous drugs such as heroin, LSD and ecstasy, to the lower-risk category of Schedule III. The change applies to state-regulated medical marijuana and does not legalize medical or recreational cannabis products on the federal level.

U.S. Military Gets Vaccine Freedom

pgnewser April 22, 2026 1

Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth has ended mandatory flu vaccines for military personnel. While flu vaccines will still be offered, military personnel can now opt out of them if they so choose.

Hegseth says U.S. military no longer requires flu vaccination, drawing criticism from health experts– www.scientificamerican.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Hegseth says U.S. military no longer requires flu vaccination, drawing criticism from health experts

The decision to no longer enforce mandatory annual flu shots for military personnel could mean more troops will get sick during flu season, one expert says

The U.S. military will no longer require service members to be vaccinated against the flu, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a social media post on Tuesday, a decision that some health experts say could endanger troops.

“The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force. We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately,” Hegseth wrote in the post.

The policy stands in contrast to the current recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s highest public health body, which says all Americans over the age of six months who do not have contraindications should get the annual flu shot. The CDC estimates that the vaccine saved some 12,000 lives and prevented about 180,000 hospitalizations during the 2024–2025 flu season.

Florida is facing its most intense drought in 15 years. Here’s how it got so bad and how long it will last.– www.livescience.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Florida is experiencing its most intense drought in 15 years, with more than 70% of the Sunshine State facing what the U.S. Drought Monitor calls “extreme” to “exceptional” drought conditions.

Northern Florida is suffering the driest conditions in the state, and recent rainfall has brought almost no relief, according to the latest drought data. Forecasts show no rain and high temperatures over the next week, so the situation will likely get worse before it gets better, experts told Live Science.

Scientists develop plant-based serum that regrows hair within weeks |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

Scientists develop plant-based serum that regrows hair within weeks |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

A new experimental hair-loss treatment has drawn global attention after researchers reported encouraging early results from a plant-based scalp serum. Scientists in Taipei, led by Dr Tsong Min Chang of Schweitzer Biotech Company, found that volunteers using the formula for eight weeks showed measurable improvements in hair density and thickness compared with a placebo group. The serum combines plant-derived compounds from Centella asiatica with ingredients already used in cosmetic and scalp-care products. While the findings are still preliminary and require larger independent trials, the study has raised interest because many current hair-loss treatments can take months to show results and do not work equally well for every user.

Woke Health Panel No More

pgnewser April 21, 2026 0

RFK Jr. is vowing to replace the “woke” panel currently in charge of choosing what preventative care gets covered by Obamacare. Kennedy plans on replacing the current allegedly “woke” members of the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force, saying “We’re now bringing new members on who have a clear mission.”

RFK Jr. will overhaul ‘woke’ panel that decides preventive services covered under ‘Obamacare’– www.lifesitenews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indicated that he’s following through on his promise to reform the panel of experts that determines which preventive medical services insurance companies must fully cover under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as “Obamacare.”

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force “has been lackadaisical and negligent for 20 years,” Kennedy told the House Ways and Means Committee. 

Kennedy announced last July that he intended to dismiss all 16 panel members of the task force because he viewed them as too “woke.” 

“We’re now bringing new members on who have a clear mission,” Kennedy told the committee on Thursday. 

Politico reported that “some public health advocates worry that Kennedy would remake the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to align it with his views, many of which go against mainstream science, the same way he overhauled the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appointing members who shared his skepticism of vaccine safety.” 

The task force was formed in 1984 to advise the federal government on preventive health matters. The Affordable Care Act in 2010 broadened its mandate, giving it the power to determine which screenings, counseling and preventive medications insurers must cover at no cost to patients.

In recent years, however, the task force had undergone mission creep. It developed a formal Health Equity Framework to systematically consider race, ethnicity, sex, gender, and social risk factors to be used in all of their recommendation processes. 

Feds Sound Alarm Over Warning That Anthropic ‘Mythos’ AI Can Hack ‘Every Major Operating System’– slaynews.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Federal officials are scrambling after a powerful new artificial intelligence (AI) model demonstrated the ability to hack virtually every major operating system and web browser, triggering urgent warnings from top government and financial leaders.

AI giant Anthropic’s new system, known as “Mythos,” is being kept under tight restrictions.

However, insiders say the threat is already serious enough that the U.S. government is racing to understand it before it’s too late.

Treasury Rushes to Access High-Risk AI

According to reports, the U.S. Treasury Department is urgently seeking access to Anthropic’s restricted model

AI makes granular pricing easier, but consumer psychology may make it less profitable– phys.org

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:
Big data, artificial intelligence and advanced pricing algorithms make it easier than ever for companies to fine-tune prices for individual products to closely reflect their unique value and cost. The conventional wisdom is straightforward: better data, better algorithms and sharper segmentation should produce better profits. But new research suggests that the most profitable answer isn’t always more fine-grained pricing across a product line. In fact, it is fewer, better-chosen price points.

Trump plans to ease access to psychedelics like psilocybin, ibogaine – The Washington Post– news.google.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

  1. Trump plans to ease access to psychedelics like psilocybin, ibogaine  The Washington Post
  2. Trump Loosens Restrictions on Psychedelic Drugs  The New York Times
  3. Trump signs order to speed up review of psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment  NBC News
  4. Trump announces reforms to accelerate access to psychedelic drug treatments  The Guardian
  5. President Trump orders faster review of psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment  10tv.com

Why Journalists Are Going Indie (with Maddy Myers)– www.404media.co

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

This week, Sam is joined by Maddy Myers, editor-in-chief of Mothership. She’s also a co-host of the video games podcast Triple Click.

Maddy launched Mothership with co-founder Zoë Hannah in January. It’s a queer and women-owned independent publication that focuses on gender and games. They discuss Maddy’s early days of games journalism at a (print!) alt-weekly in Boston and then at the Mary Sue, how she and Zoë decided it was time to quit their jobs and launch their own indie outlet, and the importance of owning your own work as a journalist.

Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode’s bonus content and to power our journalism.

A new force of nature is reshaping the planet, study finds– www.sciencedaily.com

pgnewser April 20, 2026 0

News Source
EXCERPT:

Human societies have not just adapted to the natural world. They have steadily learned how to transform it. Drawing on research from archaeology, ecology, anthropology, and evolutionary theory, Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, explains how cultural practices have evolved to give humans extraordinary influence over the ecosystems that sustain them.

From early uses of fire to cook food and shape landscapes to modern systems like industrial agriculture, global trade, and rapidly growing cities, societies have developed powerful tools and institutions. These social and cultural advances have allowed humans to reshape the planet on a massive scale while improving their ability to survive and thrive.

Reverse Aging Showing Early Signs of Success

pgnewser April 16, 2026 0

Shinya Yamanaka, a stem-cell biologist then at Kyoto University in Japan, led a team of scientists to successfully test a 2006 reverse aging discovery. Now, major companies are prepared to bring the testing to the next level after other researchers have shown more evidence to support the 2006 claim. Billions are now being flooded into the emerging technology.

Blurb:

This method to reverse cellular aging is about to be tested in humans – scientificamerican.com

Yuancheng Ryan Lu could barely breathe while he waited for his labmate to adjust the microscope focus.

On the slide in front of them were the results of Lu’s latest attempt to turn back time for ageing retinal nerve cells. If it worked, the method he was using could help to restore eyesight to older adults with glaucoma, an age-related condition that damages the optic nerve. And perhaps some day it could be used to rejuvenate organs such as the kidneys or liver — maybe even the brain.

Lu had spent three years trying different approaches — and had failed. But this time looked different. Lu had introduced three genes into mouse eyes that should revert cells to a younger developmental state. And there under the microscope he thought he could see signs of new growth. Now, he was asking his labmate to confirm his suspicions. “I was so nervous,” says Lu, now a geneticist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.