ACIP Panel Overturns MMRV First-Dose Guidance Amid Confusion
An Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices newly appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted 8–3 to remove the recommendation for using the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine in children under 4, reversing long-standing federal guidance. Critics noted the panel’s lack of expertise, conflicts of interest, and procedural departures, including confusion over evidence frameworks and basic concepts. The panel revisited a settled issue: a small, first-dose uptick in febrile seizures with MMRV versus separate MMR+V shots—events that are brief and typically harmless. Despite rescinding the recommendation, members voted 8–1 to keep Vaccines for Children coverage, creating a split with standard policy; CHIP must follow ACIP and would drop coverage. Insurers signaled they’ll voluntarily cover MMRV through 2026. Votes on hepatitis B and COVID-19 recommendations follow. (Ars Technica)
From Dismissal to Dawn: A Maternal GBS Vaccine Nears Reality
Fifty years after pediatrician Carol Baker first warned that group B streptococcus (GBS) was silently killing newborns and proposed vaccinating pregnant women, her idea is finally in late-stage trials. GBS causes an estimated 400,000 infant illnesses, 91,000 deaths, tens of thousands of stillbirths, and neurodevelopmental harm each year, with the heaviest burden in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Pfizer has begun a phase 3 study of a six-serotype conjugate vaccine using serological endpoints; MinervaX follows with a protein-based candidate. The path was slowed by sexism, liability fears, unclear regulatory pathways, and GBS’s ‘invisible’ toll. Screening and intrapartum antibiotics cut early-onset disease in rich countries but don’t prevent late-onset disease, stillbirths, or preterm births. Adoption will hinge on affordability, antenatal access, community acceptance, and post-licensure proof. (Science)
SF’s AI Nightlife Peaks With Robot Fight Club
San Francisco’s AI surge has spawned a gleefully weird nightlife. Crowds pack Frontier Tower’s underground “Ultimate Fighting Bots,” chanting as third-grader-sized humanoids trade jabs while fake $100 bills fly. Attendees don steampunk and retro tees; one spectator called it surreal for 2025. The series began in July and returns Sept. 27. Six Unitree and Booster robots, provided by Singapore’s FrodoBots AI, are programmed to brawl, cost $30,000–$60,000 each, and fight with personas like Googlord, Peuter Steel, and Waifu.exe. Tickets cost $100. The AI boom has also doubled city events to nearly 2,000 this year, with 578 AI-focused, according to Luma. Techies seek community beyond networking, filling AI trivia nights where 600 people RSVP’d and about half got in. Organizers say robots help spark real-life connections. (New York Times)
Lawsuit Alleges Meta Pirated Porn to Train AI
A new lawsuit by Strike 3 Holdings alleges Meta used BitTorrent to download and seed 2,396 copyrighted adult videos since 2018, claiming the material offered uncommon camera angles and uninterrupted scenes useful for training models toward “superintelligence.” The complaint ties alleged activity to 47 Meta-affiliated IP addresses and seeks $350 million in statutory damages. It also lists non-porn sources and titles suggesting broader scraping. Meta says the claims are inaccurate. Plaintiffs argue torrenting undermines the market for licensed access and exposes minors to explicit files on public trackers. The case lands amid wider AI copyright fights and a recent ruling that left open questions about training on copyrighted works despite dismissing a separate claim. (WIRED)
Teflon Diet, Garlic Milk, and Zebra Cows Headline Ig Nobels
This year’s Ig Nobels honored ten delightfully odd studies that also provoke thought. Highlights include a “Teflon diet” concept proposing powdered PTFE as a zero-calorie filler (chemistry); evidence that a small shot of alcohol can modestly boost foreign-language performance (peace); and cows painted with zebra-like stripes suffering fewer fly bites (biology). Other winners measured fingernail growth for 35 years (literature), documented ethanol’s impairment of fruit bats’ flight (aviation), showed babies nurse longer after mothers eat garlic (pediatrics), explained cacio e pepe’s clumping phase transition (physics), built a UV “shoe rack” that kills odor-causing bacteria—but also singes shoes (engineering), and found people told they’re above-average intelligence become more narcissistic (psychology). Ceremony held at Boston University. (The Guardian)
South America’s First Insect-Bearing Amber Illuminates Cretaceous Forests
Scientists excavating a quarry in central Ecuador have uncovered South America’s first insect-bearing amber, dated to about 112 million years ago. Carefully scraping petroleum-soaked sandstone revealed elongated, stalactite-like drops of fossil resin formed as tree sap engulfed tiny creatures while dinosaurs roamed. Of 60 amber pieces collected, 21 preserve life: flies, beetles, ants, wasps, and even a fragment of a wheel-shaped spiderweb. Geochemical analyses trace the resin to giant, spiky conifers similar to monkey puzzle trees. Because some trapped insects have aquatic larval stages, the team infers a humid setting. Combined with spores and pollen from surrounding rock, the finds sketch a Gondwanan forest of towering conifers, a fern-rich understory, and diverse arthropods—offering a rare, crystalline snapshot of early Cretaceous South American ecosystems. (Science)