Science

Veteran Bay Area biomedical CEO Paul Hastings had to lay off five dozen employees at his company earlier this year, thanks, he said, to what he described as the Trump administration’s attacks on universities , science and medical-research funding , he said. Trump in an August executive order said federal grants had been insufficiently vetted, and some “propagated absurd ideologies.” Hastings, whose South San Francisco firm Nkarta engineers “killer cells” to fight disease, said biotechnology companies “across the board” are cutting staff and product-development projects as uncertainty over what comes next rattles investors. The biotech sector, producing treatments for maladies from rare genetic disorders to cancer, is a key economic engine for the Bay Area, pouring nearly $100 billion into the region’s economy annually, according to industry group Biocom California, and sending more than $4 billion into local and state tax coffers , trade group California Life Sciences reporte...

Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — Alice Wong, a disability rights activist and author whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51. Wong died of an infection Friday at a hospital in San Francisco, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong’s family. Ho called her friend a “luminary of the disability justice movement” who wanted a world in which people with disabilities, especially ones of marginalized demographics who were people of color, LGBTQ and immigrants, could live freely and have full autonomy over their lives and decisions. The daughter of Hong Kong immigrants, Wong was born with muscular dystrophy. She used a powered wheelchair and an assistive breathing device. Ho shared a statement on social media that Wong wrote before her death in which she said she never imagined her trajectory would turn out as it did, to writing, activism and more. “It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to...

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press Medical Writer Scientists are trying a revolutionary new approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and other devastating autoimmune diseases – by reprogramming patients’ out-of-whack immune systems. When your body’s immune cells attack you instead of protecting you, today’s treatments tamp down the friendly fire but they don’t fix what’s causing it. Patients face a lifetime of pricey pills, shots or infusions with some serious side effects — and too often the drugs aren’t enough to keep their disease in check. “We’re entering a new era,” said Dr. Maximilian Konig, a rheumatologist at Johns Hopkins University who’s studying some of the possible new treatments. They offer “the chance to control disease in a way we’ve never seen before.” Dr. Maximilian Konig, a rheumatologist at Johns Hopkins University, sits for a portrait in the lab where he’s studying some possible new treatments for autoimmune diseases, Tuesday, May...

A man from New Jersey is believed to be the first person to die from a meat allergy triggered by a tick bite , medical researchers confirmed this week. After months of investigation, a team of scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine determined the 47-year-old airline pilot died from  alpha-gal syndrome , an allergy to red meat and other products from mammals that can unknowingly develop after a tick bite. Related Articles Simone Biles details the 3 plastic surgeries she’s undergone So your insurance dropped your doctor. Now what? Santa Clara County files suit against in-home care business for alleged wage theft As infant botulism outbreak expands, ByHeart recalls all baby formula sold across US An emerging shutdown deal doesn’t extend expiring health subsidies. Here’s what could happen to them According to researchers, the man, who has not been identified, had two extreme reactions to eating beef in the summer of 2024, after he’d been bitten mu...

The first tastes of wintry weather have brought an ominous feeling back to Sonoma County’s poultry producers. At least three farms have tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu, or HPAI, in the past three weeks — early echoes of the 2023-24 winter outbreak that devastated the local industry. “If the wind changes, as it did a couple days ago, we’re nervous,” said Mike Weber, who co-owns egg-laying operations Sunrise Farms and Weber Family Farms in Petaluma. “We’re on pins and needles until February. It’s simply scary as hell. We don’t get much sleep at night.” Related Articles Birders beware: Avian flu still a threat in the Bay Area Bay Area cat euthanized after latest bird flu infection tied to raw pet food Weber’s farms had been spared the contagion as of Friday — unlike two years ago, when the business lost 550,000 chickens and 3.2 million eggs at two sites. The three recent Sonoma County cases are the first recorded among California’s commercial producers this w...

This summer, a small number of invasive Mediterranean fruit flies were detected in San Jose . In response, the state started doing something that might seem strange: releasing millions more fruit flies out of airplanes  every week to drift down upon the South Bay. (Close your mouth when looking up — kidding!) But these flies are different. They’re males that have been exposed to radiation to make them sterile. They breed with female flies, but no viable eggs result – thus, the invasion is gradually eradicated. It’s a biological-control strategy that’s been used with success over the years in Southern California, as well as states like Oregon, Florida and Louisiana. Jason Leathers is the branch chief for Pest Detection/Emergency Projects at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). His job is to help fight these teeny-tiny menaces. Though small, the danger they pose is real. Medflies can ruin more than 250 kinds of produce by infecting them with maggots. The de...

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press REDWOOD CITY  — For the past decade, Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband Mark Zuckerberg have focused part of their philanthropy on a lofty goal — “to cure, prevent or manage all disease” — if not in their lifetime, then in their children’s. But during that time, they also funded underprivileged schools, immigration reform and efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion. Now, the billionaire couple is shifting the bulk of their philanthropic resources to Biohub, the pair’s science organization, and focusing on using artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. The idea is to develop virtual, AI-based cell models to understand how they work in the human body, study inflammation and use AI to “harness the immune system” for disease detection, prevention and treatment. Related Articles Silicon Valley tech firms’ snug relationship with Trump deepens, bears fruit Meta’s higher spending in pursuit of AI payoff shakes investors...

Tom Brady has revealed that his dog Junie is a clone of his late pet Lua, who died in 2023. The former superstar quarterback-turned-sports commentator shared the news on Tuesday about his new pitbull mix being a clone of Lua , who was adopted in 2014 by Brady and his then-wife, Gisele Bündchen. Lua passed away a year after the couple’s divorce was finalized in 2022. Related Articles Kristin Chenoweth says backlash to Charlie Kirk comments ‘nearly broke’ her Ro Khanna slams Trump’s sympathy for royal family amid Andrew’s disgrace ‘Wicked’ star Jonathan Bailey crowned People’s Sexiest Man Alive Keanu Reeves stripped down and got bloody at end of his Broadway play Rapper Young Bleed dead at 51 after brain aneurysm Texas-based biotech startup, Colossal Biosciences, was behind the procedure, Brady said. Brady is an investor in the company, which also announced on Tuesday its acquisition of Viagen Pets & Equine — the world’s leading animal cloning firm, known for creating do...

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have spotted the brightest flare yet from a supermassive black hole that shines with the light of 10 trillion suns. These bursts of light and energy can come from things like tangled-up magnetic fields or hiccups in the heated gas disks surrounding black holes . The flares help illuminate researchers’ understanding of the black holes within. The latest cosmic display was spotted in 2018 by a camera at the Palomar Observatory in California. It took about three months to shine at peak brightness and has been decaying in the years since. It likely happened because a large star wandered too close to the black hole and got shredded to pieces. “At first, we didn’t really believe the numbers about the energy,” said study author Matthew Graham with the California Institute of Technology, which operates Palomar. Related Articles Solving a sea otter mystery: Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers track down origin of dead...

MONTEREY — On-call staff members at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s sea otter rescue and conservation program rescued a six-month-old otter stranded on San Carlos Beach in July. She was emaciated and lethargic. The initial investigation by Dr. Ri Chang, the aquarium’s veterinarian, found intense inflammation in her stomach and bits and pieces of sand crab in her feces. These symptoms, combined with her age, dehydration, emaciation and lethargy, resulted in an initial diagnosis of a common parasitic infection called acanthocephalan peritonitis, also known as AP. RELATED:  Puckish sea otters continue surf board-stealing ways at Santa Cruz beach Chang kept their expectations realistic for the otter’s recovery —  AP has taken the lives of nearly a quarter of southern sea otters over the past three decades. Related Articles Recreational crab season opens along the Sonoma Coast as state warns of biotoxin risk Rabid bat found near San Mateo County park NOAA reports spike i...