Infectious disease expert explains why she resigned from the CDC
Former CDC infectious disease expert Dr. Fiona Havers tells CNN's Jake Tapper why she resigned her post as a senior vaccine adviser, citing concerns about changes to the agency's vaccine processes under US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Associated Press
40 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Health officials issue warnings as UK bakes in the first heat wave of 2025
LONDON (AP) — British health officials are warning people across the country to take precautions when out in the sun as the U.K. bakes under its first heat wave of the year. Temperatures are expected to peak at 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of eastern England on Saturday following a week of unusually warm weather, according to the national weather agency the Met Office. That's about 12 C (22 F) higher than normal for this time of year. The U.K. Health Security Agency has issued an amber heat health alert covering all of England because of increased health risks for people over 65 and those with heart and lung problems. 'Heat can result in serious health outcomes across the population, especially for older adults or those with pre-existing health conditions,' Dr. Agostinho Sousa, head of the UKHSA, said in a statement. 'It is therefore important to check on friends, family and neighbors who are more vulnerable and to take sensible precautions while enjoying the sun.' Saturday is expected to be the hottest day of the heat wave, with temperatures falling slightly on Sunday and dropping back into the more normal temperatures next week, the Met Office said. The heat alert is currently scheduled to remain in effect until Monday morning. Unusually, temperatures in London this week have been higher than in many parts of Western Europe. That's because the high temperatures are not the result of hot air moving north from the Iberian Peninsula or North Africa as is often the case, the Met Office said. Instead, this weather system originated in air high over the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland. As it approaches the U.K., it descends toward ground level, causing it to warm rapidly, Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lenhert said. That said, it has been plenty hot in Europe too. Aviation enthusiasts attending the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, this week sought the shade of a Boeing 777's wing, cooling off as temperatures hovered in the low 30s C (mid-80s F.) Met Office scientists this week published research showing that climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme high temperatures in the U.K. The chance of temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius (104 F) is now more than 20 times higher than it was in the 1960s, the researchers said.
Forbes
40 minutes ago
- Forbes
Connected Minds: Preparing For The Cognitive Gig Economy
Alex Lazovsky is a General Partner at Palo Alto Growth Capital, a VC firm based in Palo Alto, California—the heart of Silicon Valley. Imagine a future freelancer leasing out a slice of their own mind to a multinational corporation for an hour. In this speculative future, neural implants could allow human brains to plug into a shared 'neural cloud' on demand. Brainpower becomes a tradable resource—cognitive gig workers for hire. It sounds like science fiction, yet rapid advances in neurotechnology and big investments in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could someday bring that vision closer to reality. To understand how these advancements could affect businesses and investors, let's take a closer look at the existing technology and where it may be heading. Neurotech startups are already blurring the line between man and machine. Neuralink recently raised over $600 million in a funding round, catapulting its valuation to about $9 billion. This investor enthusiasm reflects the 'convergence of neuroscience and AI' and the belief that it could redefine how humans interact with technology. Neuralink demonstrated a human patient controlling a cursor and even browsing the internet using only their thoughts—early evidence of the transformative potential of high-bandwidth brain implants. Neuralink is not alone. Synchron, an Australian-American firm, has developed a less invasive implant that can be fed into the brain's blood vessels via the jugular vein, avoiding open brain surgery. Meanwhile, Precision Neuroscience raised over $100 million to develop an implant enabling users to control devices with thought. Venture capital is flooding into neurotech—total funding topped $2.3 billion in 2024, a more than threefold increase from just two years prior. From medical device firms to Big Tech, many investors see the brain as the next big platform. These efforts focus initially on healing—giving paralyzed patients new means to communicate or control prosthetics. But their long-term implications could reach further. Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that by the early 2030s, we may be able to network the human neocortex to the cloud over high-bandwidth connections. Companies like Neuralink, Paradromics and Blackrock Neurotech are already working on the technical substrate—micron-scale electrode threads and wireless interfaces—that might one day support a neural internet. Early research offers intriguing hints. In one experiment, neuroscientists connected three people's brains so they could jointly play a Tetris-like game via brain-to-brain communication. The system, dubbed BrainNet, showed that multiple minds can collaborate through a direct neural link, even across the internet. 'Our results raise the possibility of future brain-to-brain interfaces that enable cooperative problem-solving by humans using a 'social network' of connected brains,' the team noted. If human brains become nodes on a neural network, a new marketplace may emerge around cognitive capacity on demand. Just as cloud computing turned computing power into a utility, a 'cognitive gig economy' could turn mental work into a cloud service. Individuals might rent out spare brain bandwidth in exchange for payment, performing data analysis, pattern recognition or creative brainstorming via direct neural link. A company of the future might hire 1,000 connected minds for an hour to crowdsource a tough research problem—not by convening a meeting but by literally tapping into distributed human brains through the neural cloud. Such scenarios sound surreal, yet they extrapolate from trends already in motion. Automation and AI are transforming traditional jobs, but paradoxically, human intelligence may become a commodity itself—outsourced, fractional and ubiquitous. Knowledge workers could one day freelance their neurons, akin to Uber drivers lending their cars or time. A 'Brain-as-a-Service' industry might arise, with exchanges or platforms matching those who need cognitive help with those willing to provide it via neural link. For all its promise, this cognitive gig economy raises profound ethical and societal questions. If your brain is connected to the cloud, who safeguards your mental privacy? Brain data can reveal deeply personal information—emotions, memories, even subconscious biases. Questions of cognitive liberty loom large: Would people feel pressured to get brain implants to compete in the future job market? Could employers favor workers who can literally 'multitask' with an AI coprocessor in their heads? There's also the risk of neuro-exploitation. In a world where disadvantaged individuals might rent out their mental processing to make ends meet, new forms of inequality could emerge. The cognitive gig economy might empower people to earn money with their minds, but it could also commoditize human cognition, treating thoughts as labor units. If the 'main products of the 21st-century economy' indeed become 'bodies, brains and minds,' as Yuval Noah Harari suggests, society must grapple with how to value and protect those minds in the marketplace. What steam power and electricity were to past centuries, neural interfaces might be to this one—a general-purpose technology that could transform economies and lives. For forward-looking investors and executives, I recommend keeping a close eye on your head because it may also be your next capital asset. If the next era becomes one of connected minds, those who can balance bold innovation with human-centered ethics might shape a future where brainpower for hire could truly benefit humanity. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
CBS News
41 minutes ago
- CBS News
Dog on Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus leading way on novel obsessive-compulsive disorder therapy treatment
It has become common for dogs to be used for a variety of behavioral health solutions, including those like post-traumatic stress disorder, for instance. But at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, there is a single dog that is being used in a rather unique way: helping patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, manage their symptoms. Cate Rush, a social work fellow who works on the campus, has had Otis the Bernese Mountain Dog since her junior year of her undergraduate studies. He's helped in her in a variety of ways throughout her adult life, and she's now using him to help her patients as well. Cate Rush with Otis CBS "I just feel like it's so special that he's able to do something that humans cannot," she said. Otis is a trained therapy dog but works with a specific set of clients. Most of the patients that come see Cate have OCD. "Therapy dogs aren't commonly used for OCD so it's been a bit of a learning experience how to use him," she said. The research on the use of dogs for OCD patients is still evolving, as is most of the research around therapy dogs in general. It's only been since the turn of the 2000s that having dogs used as aids for behavioral health solutions has become more common. But it's rare to see one that is working with OCD patients. Otis is the only dog of his kind on the medical campus in Aurora. Obsessive-compulsive disorder currently affects 2.5% of the United States population and can be treated with what is called exposure and response prevention therapy, or ERPT. It usually involves exposing patients to things that trigger their obsessive behaviors while giving them tools to help prevent them from engaging in their typical compulsions. A 2010 study by the University of Pennsylvania, cited in the National Institute of Health, showed that ERPT can significantly reduce OCD symptoms in up to 80% of patients. CBS That's where Otis comes in. He can help in a variety of ways, as a supportive and helpful sidekick to those being exposed to triggering things or situations or, in some cases, being a walking exposure therapy himself. "There are a lot of patients who might have contamination fears," Rush said, "They can use him in exposure so I've had patients touch his paws or rub his belly." "I had a patient and one of her final exposures in the IOP -- the intensive outpatient program -- was to high five Otis and that was really sweet," she added. While Otis isn't part of any official research at Anschutz just yet, his presence signals an evolving approach to behavioral health solutions. One wag at a time.
