This week an FDA advisory board paved the way for the first over the counter birth control pill, with an unanimous decision 17-0. The FDA must accept the recommendation before the pills are available for sale, which is expected in a few months time. If approved, the progestin-only pill would be manufactured by the company Perrigo, under the brand name Opill.
Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science journalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about that and more including; Voyager spacecrafts get energy boosts, wild axolotls face extinction, testing airplane waste for COVID-19 and more.
US Declares An End To The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Just over three years ago, Alex Azar, then the Secretary of Health and Human Services, issued a declaration of a national public health emergency as a result of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. That declaration kicked off a cascade of nationwide funding, policies, and restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the three years that followed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates over a million people in the US have died from COVID-19.
Yesterday, although the virus is still circulating and people are still getting sick, that emergency declaration finally came to an end, after being renewed over a dozen times. A statement released by the Department of Health and Human Services said “COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was. Since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95% and hospitalizations are down nearly 91%.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, joins Ira Flatow to talk about where we go from here. Is life back to normal—or is there a new normal? What have we learned from the past three years about responding to future outbreaks?
Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
706: Colorectal Cancer Rates Rising In Young People | What An AI Learns From A Baby
705: A Black Physician’s Analysis Of The Legacy Of Racism In Medicine
704: Faraway Planets With Oceans Of Magma | The Art And Science Of Trash Talk
701: Is Each Fingerprint On Your Hand Unique? | In This Computer Component, Data Slides Through Honey
700: The FDA Approved The First CRISPR-Based Therapy. What’s Next?
703: Protecting The ‘Satan’ Tarantula | If Termites Wore Stripes, Would Spiders Still Eat Them?
699: Scientists Are Uncovering A World Of ‘Dark Matter’ Carcinogens
702: Syphilis Cases Up 80% Since 2018 | The Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef In The World
698: Expanding Our Umwelt: Understanding Animal Experiences
695: How Signing Characters Help Deaf Children Learn Language
696: ‘Mysterious’ Canine Illness: What Dog Owners Should Know
694: An App For People Of Color To Rate Their Birthing Experiences | How Different Animals See
697: NASA Opens Canister With Asteroid Sample | ADHD Prescription Rates Spiked During The Pandemic
693: AI Helps Find Ancient Artifacts In The Great Lakes | An Artist Combines Indigenous Textiles With Modern Tech
691: When The ‘Personal’ Computer Turned 30
690: How The Moon Transformed Life On Earth, From Climate to Timekeeping
692: From Scans To Office Visits: How Will AI Shape Medicine?
689: Rhesus Monkey Cloned With Modified Approach Has Survived Into Adulthood
688: 3,000 Types Of Brain Cells Categorized In Massive Brain Cell Atlas
685: Brain ‘Organoids’: Lab-Grown Cell Clusters Model Brain Functions
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