RFK Jr. Defends CDC Firing Amid Vaccine Access Turmoil

Before the Senate Finance Committee, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended firing CDC Director Susan Monarez and repeated allegations that the CDC is corrupt following an attack on the agency linked to vaccine misinformation. He denied restricting COVID-19 vaccine access as senators cited patients turned away under rules, prescription requirements, and liability fears. Pressed by Elizabeth Warren, he conceded access varies by state. Maggie Hassan criticized label changes that pushed vaccinations for people under 65 into off-label territory and demanded data supporting the shift. Bernie Sanders and Thom Tillis challenged his claim that Monarez said she was not trustworthy. Members of both parties urged his resignation. Senators blasted plans to add seven vaccine-skeptic advisers and the cancellation of $500 million for mRNA research today. (Ars Technica)

Senate hearing spotlights evasions, vaccine misinformation, and CDC upheaval

Senators pressed the U.S. health secretary over CDC turmoil and vaccine policy in a combative Finance Committee hearing. The piece recounts how he minimized mass resignations and the firing of the CDC director, defended reshaping a vaccine advisory panel with longtime skeptics, and brushed aside conflict-of-interest concerns raised by Sen. Bill Cassidy. In a tense exchange with Sen. Mark Warner, he refused to affirm that at least one million Americans died of COVID-19 and questioned evidence that vaccination saved lives. He endorsed claims of serious mRNA-vaccine harms in youth and contradicted past assurances that he isn’t “anti-vax,” telling Sen. Tina Smith that “both things are true.” The article portrays mounting bipartisan alarm about public-health leadership. (Gizmodo)

RFK Jr defends public-health overhaul as senators challenge vaccine claims

At a 4 September hearing, the U.S. health secretary vigorously defended his moves to upend public health, even as senators from both parties questioned his actions and rhetoric. He made unfounded allegations about COVID-19 vaccine safety, accused the medical establishment of corruption, and faced pointed questions about a leadership shakeup at the CDC. The hearing, meant to cover the administration’s health agenda, repeatedly devolved into shouting as lawmakers pressed him on turmoil at the CDC and on efforts affecting mRNA-vaccine research. The coverage emphasizes bipartisan skepticism and the widening rift between the secretary’s claims and established scientific evidence on vaccine safety and effectiveness. (Nature)

Judge Rebukes Grant Freeze, but Harvard’s Research Future Remains Uncertain

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated nearly $2.2 billion in Harvard research grants, calling the actions a First Amendment violation and an “ideologically motivated assault.” The White House will appeal, leaving funding in limbo. District Judge Allison Burroughs’s decision inspires optimism, yet researchers report halted projects, layoffs, and shuttered labs; some studies, especially patient-based, may not recover. The freeze has crippled resources like FlyBase, which lost eight staff. Scientists see vindication but note recent Supreme Court hostility to NIH grants. Columbia and Brown restored funding after concessions; Harvard has resisted settlement. Quotes from David Walt, Scott Delaney, and Samuel Gershman reflect cautious optimism, fears of continued political interference—including threats to tax status and international enrollment—and a resolve to defend academic independence. (Science)

Poor governance undermines countries’ antimicrobial resistance plans, study finds

An analysis of 161 national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans developed since 2017 identifies a stark governance gap: lower-income countries score markedly worse across policy design, implementation tools, and monitoring/evaluation. Researchers created composite governance scores (0–100) from 54 indicators across 18 domains and linked them to national AMR burdens. Higher governance scores correlated with fewer AMR-associated deaths and disability-adjusted life-years, with infection prevention and control, surveillance, and antimicrobial stewardship showing the strongest associations. The findings highlight how economic strength and political stability align with stronger AMR governance—and how gaps risk entrenching global inequality. Authors urge policymakers to target the most predictive domains to close implementation gaps and reduce drug-resistant infections. (CIDRAP)

AI Deepfakes Hijack Doctors to Sell Snake Oil

Fraudsters are deploying AI voice and video tools to impersonate trusted physicians and flog dubious health products, eroding public trust and risking patient harm. Endocrinologist Robert H. Lustig was cloned to pitch “liquid pearls” weight-loss capsules; Britain’s Gemma Newman, Stanford’s Christopher Gardner, and cardiologist Eric Topol report similar abuses across Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, and Walmart. BrandShield traced a multinational campaign marketing “Peaka,” a supposed GLP-1 alternative sold via disposable sites and third-party marketplaces, often misusing regulators’ logos. Platforms remove some content when pressed, yet reporting systems fail and takedowns are whack-a-mole. Experts warn realistic fakes can be built from scant footage, deterring legitimate voices from engaging online. The result: confusion, false hope, and profits for scammers targeting vulnerable people with chronic conditions, worldwide daily. (New York Times)

AI as Switchboard: Parreno, Huyghe, and the Art of Unseen Connections

“Voices,” Philippe Parreno’s sensor-driven exhibition at Haus der Kunst, fused films, roaming lights, dancers, desert feeds, and heat lamps into a responsive ecosystem orchestrated by an A.I. “Brain.” A synthesized voice, modeled on anchor Susanne Daubner, spoke invented language shaped by real-time gallery data. The essay contrasts this infrastructural use of A.I. with text-to-image novelties and NFT “artists” like Botto and Keke, whose mass-generated pastiches rarely feel original. Refik Anadol’s dazzling “Coral” offers grandeur yet risks screensaver spectacle. Pierre Huyghe’s “Liminal” treats A.I. as a bodiless presence evolving from temperature, humidity, and visitor behavior. Across both artists, A.I. becomes switchboard and surveillance, linking elements while unsettling viewers. The result isn’t machine-made genius but new conditions for human meaning-making: art as a game between humans still. (New York Times)

New fat-resident immune cell may drive age-related inflammation in mice

Preliminary mouse data identify a previously unknown immune cell in visceral fat that appears only in older animals and shows signatures linked to “inflammaging.” Using imaging and RNA-based profiling, researchers cataloged 13 macrophage populations in fat, with several shifting with age and in sex-specific ways (for example, nerve-associated macrophages decreased with age in females, but not males). The newly described cell type seems to promote chronic inflammation, while other fat-resident macrophages help restrain it, hinting at a balancing act that changes over time. The study, published 2 September in Nature Aging, suggests fat-immune interactions could be central to why baseline inflammation rises with age, though translation to humans remains to be shown. (Nature)

Spyware Automates Sextortion with Porn-Triggered Webcam Shots

Proofpoint researchers detailed Stealerium, an open-source infostealer spreading since May via phishing emails, that adds an automated sextortion module to its credential-stealing toolkit. Once installed, it monitors browser URLs for customizable NSFW keywords (e.g., “sex,” “porn”), screenshots the active tab, snaps a simultaneous webcam photo, and exfiltrates images and stolen data via Telegram, Discord, or SMTP. Offered free on GitHub by “witchfindertr,” the malware is delivered as fake invoices or payments and has targeted organizations in hospitality, education, and finance, with likely spillover to consumers. Proofpoint hasn’t identified victims of the feature but says its existence implies use; a comparable case surfaced in 2019. Researchers say lower-tier criminals are pivoting from big-ticket ransomware to one-by-one blackmail that’s underreported due to shame. Experts call it “gross.” (Ars Technica)