HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

June 1, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• COVID variant NB.1.8.1 hits U.S. What to know about symptoms, new booster vaccine restrictions (CBS)
• C.D.C. Contradicts Kennedy and Keeps Advice That Children May Get Covid Shots
• Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come  (AP)
• New blood test screens for thousands of rare inherited diseases at once (UPI)
• A dystopian surveillance fear has become reality in Texas (The Guardian)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• AI revolt:  New ChatGPT model refuses to shut down when instructed (The Independent)
• iPhone could triple in price to $3,500 if they’re made in the US, analyst warns (CNN)
• Tropical forests destroyed at fastest recorded rate last year  (BBC)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

COVID variant NB.1.8.1 hits U.S. What to know about symptoms, new booster vaccine restrictions (CBS)

Cases of the new COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1, linked to a large surge in China, have been detected in multiple locations across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Despite the latest variant displaying high transmissibility, the Trump administration is planning to limit booster vaccine access to some groups.  Last week, the Food and Drug Administration said it will continue approving COVID-19 vaccine updates for seniors and those with an underlying medical condition, including pregnancy or diabetes, but will require vaccine makers to conduct major new clinical trials before approving them for wider use.

C.D.C. Contradicts Kennedy and Keeps Advice That Children May Get Covid Shots

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday that the vaccine would no longer appear on the childhood immunization schedule. C.D.C.’s update counters his policy.

Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come  (AP)

Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy…. State and local health departments responsible for invisible but critical work such as inspecting restaurants, monitoring wastewater for new and harmful germs, responding to outbreaks before they get too big — and a host of other tasks to protect both individuals and communities — are being hollowed out….

New blood test screens for thousands of rare inherited diseases at once (UPI)

 A new rapid blood test for newborns could potentially detect genetic mutations linked to thousands of rare diseases all at once, greatly improving on current inefficient detection methods….The new test developed by Australian scientists has proven highly accurate in identifying gene mutations associated with many rare, inherited diseases, all from just a minimally invasive blood sample taken from infants and children, the authors say….  

A dystopian surveillance fear has become reality in Texas (The Guardian)

 Law enforcement used license-plate readers in several states to search for a woman who had an abortion.

SCIENCE AND TECH

AI revolt:  New ChatGPT model refuses to shut down when instructed (The Independent)

OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model ignores basic instructions to turn itself off, and even sabotaging a shutdown mechanism in order to keep itself running, artificial intelligence researchers have warned. AI safety firm Palisade Research discovered the potentially dangerous tendency for self-preservation in a series of experiments on OpenAI’s new o3 model.

iPhone could triple in price to $3,500 if they’re made in the US, analyst warns (CNN)

  US President Donald Trump boasted “jobs and factories will come roaring back” when he unleashed unprecedented tariffs around the world during his “Liberation Day” address last month.  But there’s one product the president is particularly eager to produce in the US: iPhones.... But Dan Ives, global head of technology research at financial services firm Wedbush Securities, told CNN’s Erin Burnett in April that idea is a “fictional tale.” US-made iPhones will likely cost more than three times their current price of around $1,000, Ives said, because of the costs associated with replicating the highly complex production ecosystem that currently exists in Asia.  

Tropical forests destroyed at fastest recorded rate last year  (BBC)

...Researchers estimate that 67,000 sq km (26,000 sq mi) of these pristine, old-growth forests were lost in 2024 – an area nearly as large as the Republic of Ireland...Fires were the main cause, overtaking land clearances from agriculture for the first time on record, with the Amazon faring particularly badly amid record drought.  There was more positive news in South East Asia, however, with government policies helping to reduce forest loss.