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Top headlines

Lead story

The Department of Health and Human Services, spurred by secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is seeking unprecedented access to the health records of U.S. citizens. The department is also negotiating deals to gain access to the health records of citizens from other countries.

Indiana University legal scholar Jennifer Oliva explains the questionable reason for collecting the data, how the law tasked with protecting sensitive patient records hasn’t kept up with today’s technologies, and what this means for the privacy of your medical information.

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Kim Patch

Deputy Accountability Editor

How private is the information you give your doctor, really? Dragana991/iStock via Getty Images

US government is pushing to gain unprecedented access to your medical records – as data protections are weakening

Jennifer D. Oliva, Indiana University

Large datasets can be useful research tools, but current government efforts to gather medical records depend on policy and technology that falls short of protecting people’s privacy.

Arts + Culture

The real reason many Americans are cutting ties with their parents and siblings

Rin Reczek, The Ohio State University

Estrangement is rarely caused by childhood abuse or a pushy therapist. Instead, it reveals a collision between two ideas of what family should be.

Environment + Energy

AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers

Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Moving servers into the ocean does not make underlying environmental challenges disappear. And it creates new concerns as well.

Dealing with disasters increasingly requires a smartphone – losing access can be a nightmare, but there are ways to prepare

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, University of North Dakota

Mobile phones have become part of just about everyone’s emergency infrastructure. But what do you do when the power and service go out?

Health + Medicine

US teens are smoking and vaping less than their peers abroad

Holly Jarman, University of Michigan; Claire L. Ma, University of Michigan; Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, UMass Amherst

A new FDA survey finds some positive trends among young people in the US, though new forms of nicotine use like pouches have become a bit more popular.

If you think someone has an eating disorder, should you say something? A dietitian explains how to express concern without body shaming

Miranda Roberts, University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic

Seeing a loved one lose significant weight or struggle with eating and exercise can be concerning. Approaching a conversation with respect and care can avoid the harms of speculation and silence.

Science + Technology

How is deli meat made? The food science behind the turkey, ham and other cold cuts in your lunch

Anna Dilger, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

A long bath in brine is how deli meat gets its taste, texture and shelf life.

Education

Plans to improve Michigan’s K-12 schools depend on how the state funds public education

Jason Burns, Michigan State University; Madeline Mavrogordato, Michigan State University

Revenues for Michigan’s districts have failed to keep pace with inflation and the evolving needs of today’s students.

Trending on site

American science benefited greatly from the talents of immigrant scientists at least as far back as WWII. A lot of the immigrants who came here on student visas in recent decades stayed to become scientific researchers and medical personnel. Now, some are leaving and others are deciding not to come here, to our loss.

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Judith Kerman

White House plan for a ‘golden age’ of science ignores the structures that made the US a scientific superpower

Today's video

a skeleton is holding a red phone, while "chatting" with a brain

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