Monarez Warns Vaccine Changes Under Kennedy Could Spur Disease Comebacks

At a Senate hearing on September 17, 2025, former CDC director Susan Monarez testified she was fired after refusing to approve new vaccination guidance without supporting evidence. She said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and advisers sidelined data on vaccine safety and effectiveness and pressured her to endorse alterations to the childhood schedule. Monarez cautioned the U.S. is headed to a “very dangerous place,” warning diseases such as polio could return if routine shots are weakened. Her testimony came a day before a vaccine panel’s vote on major schedule changes; some Republicans questioned her account, while Kennedy promised to “earn back Americans’ trust.” (AP News)

Low Uptake Leaves Millions Unprotected Against Pneumococcal Disease

A CDC-led survey of 1,553 vaccine-eligible U.S. adults found only 39.2% had received at least one pneumococcal dose by January 2024; 50.6% were unvaccinated and 10.2% were unsure. Barriers included lack of awareness and absent clinician recommendations. Unvaccinated respondents were less familiar with the vaccine, less likely to have recent medical visits or insurance, and more skeptical of benefits. In October 2024, ACIP expanded age-based recommendations to 50+ to improve coverage and reduce disparities, noting many high-risk adults are 50–64. Researchers urged better clinician education and use of tools like CDC’s PneumoRecs VaxAdvisor to simplify implementation and boost uptake. (CIDRAP)

Gemini 2.5 Earns Gold at ICPC, Outpacing Most Human Teams

Google says its general-purpose Gemini 2.5 “Deep Think” entered the 2025 ICPC World Finals through an approved remote setup, starting 10 minutes after human teams and running for five hours with extended “thinking tokens.” Without a contest-specific retrain, Gemini solved 10 of 12 algorithmic problems—good for a gold-medal result and second place overall—while only 4 of 139 human teams reached 10. It was the only entrant to solve Problem C, a multidimensional optimization over “flubber” reservoirs, using dynamic programming and nested ternary search. Google released solutions on GitHub and reports gold-level performance on 2023 and 2024 sets. The company argues such multi-step reasoning could accelerate engineering and biotech work, though the heavy compute required highlights unsettled economics for large-scale inference. (Ars Technica)

Insurers Rebuke Vaccine Panel as Senators Question Its Credibility

On the eve of a pivotal meeting, the federal vaccine advisory committee faces collapsing trust. After Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members in June and installed skeptics, Senate health chair Bill Cassidy warned Americans not to rely on any changes the panel makes to childhood schedules for Covid, hepatitis B, and MMRV. Major insurers preempted potential rollbacks, pledging to keep covering routine shots at no cost, calling their stance evidence-based. Former CDC officials Tom Frieden and Richard Besser said the moves reflect alarm that recommendations may no longer be scientific. Ex-CDC director Susan Monarez testified Kennedy planned to revise schedules; acting CDC chief Jim O’Neill, a non-scientist, must approve any changes. States and regional alliances are preparing independent guidance amid uncertainty. (New York Times)

Video Probes Gates’s Green Investments Versus Fossil-Fuel Stakes

A 6:24 video investigates how one of the world’s most prominent climate philanthropists funds clean-tech innovation and advocates emissions cuts while simultaneously holding investments tied to fossil fuels, private aviation, and heavy industry. The piece argues this “both sides” strategy enables outsized financial gains and influence across green and carbon-intensive sectors, complicating his public climate narrative. It highlights the tension between public climate leadership and private portfolio choices, urging viewers to scrutinize where capital flows and how it shapes the pace of decarbonization. The episode frames the debate within broader questions about accountability, divestment, and the efficacy of market-driven climate solutions. (The Guardian)

Scholar Says Maya Altar’s Hand Signs Encode Calendar Dates—Skeptics Disagree

A new study proposes that rulers’ hand positions on Altar Q from Copán encode four Maya Long Count dates, implying a “dual-script” system where hand signs convey calendrical information alongside hieroglyphs. The author links specific gestures—including two forms akin to the numeral zero—to dates tied to dynastic events and ritual cycles, arguing the altar functions as a Rosetta-like key for reading gestural script. Critics call the interpretation implausible, alleging selective pattern-matching. The debate underscores the complexity of Maya writing and iconography and the methodological hurdles in parsing art, text, and sign systems. The study, published in Transactions of the Philological Society, could spur reassessment of gestural conventions in Classic-period art. (Live Science)

Trial Finds Low-Dose Aspirin Halves Certain Colorectal Cancer Recurrences

A major randomized trial across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland found that patients whose colorectal tumors carried mutations in the PI3K pathway were 55% less likely to have their cancer return over three years if they took 160 mg of aspirin daily after surgery versus placebo. Roughly 40% of colorectal cancer patients carry such mutations, suggesting targeted benefit with genetic testing to identify candidates. Proposed mechanisms include anti-inflammatory effects, interference with PI3K signaling, and platelet activity reduction. Serious adverse events were rare but included bleeding; one death was possibly linked to aspirin. Results were published alongside calls to integrate tumor genotyping to guide adjuvant aspirin therapy. (The Guardian)

IMAGE CREDIT: Engin Akyurt