From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
They think in terms of birthdays, knowing that the more candles on the cake, the more we should anticipate things like joint pain, lines on the face and even foggy thinking. Yet the most recent research shows us that we have the story all wrong around brain health. The brain changes we associate with aging (for example, memory loss) are far more dynamic and modifiable through the choices we make each day than people realize.
Hanna Rosin: I'm Hanna Rosin. This is Radio Atlantic. Last year, we published a series called No Easy Fix. If you haven't heard it, you should go back and listen. It's about San Francisco's attempts to address pockets of homelessness and addiction. It's also a close and unusually humane portrait of one man-his name is Evan-living on the streets and barely managing his fentanyl addiction.
If there has been a hot topic in health in 2025, it's definitely been GLP-1s, colloquially referred to as anti-obesity jabs. These medications, taken weekly as an injection into the abdomen, result in significant weight loss and, despite being developed to manage type 2 diabetes in those with metabolic disorders, have become mainstream in many countries as a treatment for obesity.
Life in the United States can look very different depending on where you live, and for Black Americans, those differences are often influenced by longstanding factors. These include social, economic, and political conditions. Access to quality education, affordable housing, healthcare, and employment opportunities varies widely from state to state, affecting everything from annual income to overall well-being. While racial progress has been made nationally over the decades, disparities tied to race continue to affect daily life in meaningful ways.
Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid says the raunchy TV adaptation of her hit book series success has helped her fight with Parkinson's disease. The 45-year-old novelist cited the steamy hockey romance's popularity in helping her access better care more than two years following her diagnosis. Parkinson's disease, which can be inherited, is a neurological condition caused by a reduction of dopamine in the brain, leading to a plethora of physical and psychological problems such as memory loss, violent tremors, and motor-function issues. Reid opened up about her struggle with Parkinson's while speaking to Today earlier this month, revealing that she had been diagnosed in August 2023.
Doxy PEP (that is antibiotic therapy taken after potential exposure) reduces the risk of contracting bacterial STIs like syphilis and chlamydia (and, perhaps to a lesser degree, gonorrhea). If your guys are on this, their risk is lowered and yours would be as well.
Whooping cough cases are sweeping in the U.S., with tens of thousands infected and at least 13 people dead from the bacterial infection this year. While the infection rate is lower than last year, it remains above typical prepandemic years, and the number of deaths has risen. The respiratory infection, also known as pertussis, is characterized by a severe, violent cough that can leave peopleespecially infantsstruggling to breathe. Although rarely fatal, its lingering symptoms have earned it the moniker of the 100-day cough.
On June 11, 2018, seeking relief from chronic pancreatitis pain, Ashley Romero took what she believed to be half a pill of Percocet. Within minutes, she was dead. The pill, which Romero's boyfriend had acquired on the black market, was packed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be fatal in doses the size of a dozen grains of salt. Romero left behind a then seven-year-old son.
Driving the news: The average award for 2026, the first of five years, is $200 million. Alaska, a rural state with unique challenges for health care access, got the second most funding after Texas, receiving $272 million. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted for the bill after being the focus of hours of negotiations with GOP leaders. The Wall Street Journal reported over the summer that officials had reassured Alaska's GOP senators that the state would do well in allotments from the fund.
The holiday season is upon us, and while kids may be dreaming of stockings stuffed with Labubus, electronics, and toys, their parents are more likely to be stressing over how to manage the gap in childcare. Holiday childcare gaps occur when school closures and reduced childcare availability leave working parents, especially hourly and shift-based employees, without reliable care during their working hours. These gaps often force parents to miss work altogether and lose out on income.
A new national crash analysis reveals that while U.S. roadway deaths declined slightly in 2023, the nation's most serious crashes continue to be driven by larger vehicles, dangerous driving behaviors, and repeat demographic risk patterns. The findings come from a detailed review of 2023 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data examined in a new Pegasus Legal Capital study, which explores how today's vehicle fleet and driver choices shape deadly outcomes on U.S. roads.
Staten Island bested all the other boroughs with a 49% reduction in accidental deaths from overdoses last year, from 157 in 2023 to 81, according to the most recent statistics available from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In addition to the work of the task force, the borough is leading the nation with the AI-based Hotspotting the Overdose Epidemic program, which garnered a 77% drop in fatal overdoses among active participants for the 12 months ending in April 2024.
Before we got married in 2014, my wife, Chloe Melas, a journalist, and I were very much aligned on wanting children in the future. It's a huge step for anybody in a relationship, but we agreed that it would be great to start a family together. Then, around a year after the wedding, we tried to get pregnant - without success.
He said he donated because it "is the right thing to do", although his status as a super donor does make him feel "quite proud". "I just think it's not particularly difficult - it is quite quick, quite easy, so it doesn't really take a lot of my time. It just seems to me an important thing to do," he said.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services recently suspended payments to 11 providers that serve adults with disabilities over "credible allegations" of fraud, according to a letter written by Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi and obtained by WCCO. According to the letter addressed to state lawmakers, the payments to 11 providers with the Integrated Community Supports program were stopped between Sept. 4 and Sept. 23, which impacted additional providers.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued two amber warnings for north-east and north-west England, which will be in place between 8pm on Sunday until midday on Monday 5 January. The agency warned that expected low temperatures would probably result in the increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people and could lead to a rise in the number of deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or those with pre-existing health conditions, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Registration is open for El Camino Health's 15th Annual Heart Forum. The free event, taking place Saturday, Feb. 7, brings together cardiovascular physicians to share advances in heart care and features interactive sessions, a heart-healthy cooking demonstration and a patient's story about their journey to better heart health. Attendees will learn how to take charge of their heart health with a holistic approach to prevention and discover practical, enjoyable ways to incorporate movement into their daily routines to support cardiovascular health.
The knock-on, and often unintentional, impacts of a cyberattack are so rarely discussed. As an industry, the focus is almost always placed on the economic damage: the ransom payment; the cost of business downtime; and goodness, don't forget those poor shareholders. But, in recent years, the toll on human life has become increasingly apparent. We know the poor sods working in the security operations center give up their weekends every time a phish slips through the net,
