Health and Science Highlights

March 20, 2026 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Federal court blocks Kennedy’s vaccine changes, invalidates vaccine advisory panel (The Hill)
• 10 Surprising Things Not Covered by Medicare and Ways You Can Pay for Them (Newsweek)
• Spanish researchers develop low-cost artificial cornea from fish scales  (Reuters)
• Experts Issue Warning on Ebola-Like Virus That Has Already Reached the US (Newsweek)
• UCSD study: Simple blood test may predict dementia decades early  (KPBS)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• The Planet is Heating Faster Than Ever Before, New Research Shows (Time)
• Hundreds of Millions of iPhones Can Be Hacked With a New Tool Found in the Wild (Wired)

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

HEALTH

Federal court blocks Kennedy’s vaccine changes, invalidates vaccine advisory panel (The Hill)

U.S. District Judge Brian E.] Murphy found that the reconstitution of the ACIP last year failed to abide by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also found that the CDC bypassing the ACIP when changing the childhood immunization schedule was both a “technical, procedural failure” and “an abandonment of the technical knowledge and expertise embodied by that committee.” ….of the fifteen members currently on ACIP, even under the most generous reading, only six appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines—the very focus of ACIP,” wrote Murphy.

10 Surprising Things Not Covered by Medicare and Ways You Can Pay for Them (Newsweek)

Medicare provides coverage for essential medical services for millions of Americans. From lab tests to physician visits, this health insurance program helps people 65 and older, as well as certain younger individuals with disabilities or specific medical conditions, afford healthcare costs. However, despite the rise in Medicare spending—which reached more than $1,029.8 billion in 2023—the program still doesn’t cover all healthcare expenses. So you’ll need to plan ahead to determine how you’ll pay for services and supplies that Medicare doesn’t cover.

Spanish researchers develop low-cost artificial cornea from fish scales  (Reuters)

Researchers at Spain's University of Granada have developed an artificial cornea made from the scales of several fish species commonly found in markets, which could become a ‌lower-cost alternative to donor transplants for severe eye diseases. / The cornea - the eye's transparent front layer - is difficult to repair…. Severe corneal disease is often treated with donor transplants, which ⁠can be constrained by organ availability and waiting lists.

Experts Issue Warning on Ebola-Like Virus That Has Already Reached the US (Newsweek)

A severe, Ebola-like illness native to West Afria is an unrecognized threat with global implications—and imported cases have already been detected in the U.S.—experts have warned. The researchers have said that there is an urgent need for improved detection and treatment of Lassa fever, which causes thousands of deaths worldwide each year, most commonly in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

UCSD study: Simple blood test may predict dementia decades early  (KPBS)

Researchers analyzed blood samples from more than 2,700 women between the ages of 65 and 79 who were part of a large national memory study that began in the late 1990s. They measured a protein in the blood called p-tau217 and then followed the women for up to 25 years to see who later developed dementia…. “What we found was that women who had elevated levels of this blood-based biomarker named Plasma p-tau217 had threefold higher risk of incident dementia,” Shadyab said.

SCIENCE AND TECH

The Planet is Heating Faster Than Ever Before, New Research Shows (Time)

The pace of global warming has nearly doubled since 2015, a new study published today in Geophysical Research Letters has found—meaning that we could breach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures before 2030. 

Hundreds of Millions of iPhones Can Be Hacked With a New Tool Found in the Wild (Wired)

A powerful iPhone-hacking technique known as DarkSword has been discovered in use by Russian hackers. It can take over devices running iOS 18 that simply visit infected websites.