Our June News+ Story of the Month is @vanityfair ’s investigation into the alarming rise of counterfeit Ozempic.
New weight-loss drugs may be game changers for some, but journalist @katherine_eban explains that sky-high prices and regulatory failures are fueling an underworld of dangerous fakes.
How did at least 10,000 units of deadly counterfeits enter America’s drug supply and go undetected by authorities, including the FDA?
Tap the link in bio to read the full piece.
Writer: Katherine Eban
Illustrations: Shawn Martinbrough; Coloring: Christian Sotomayor
In 2015, soccer star Brandi Chastain wrote a letter to her younger self. Almost a decade later, she revisited it for @playerstribune .
“Twenty-five years ago women’s soccer in the United States changed forever,” Chastain writes. “The ’99 World Cup team set audience records, reclaimed the trophy on our home turf, and inspired a new generation of young girls … What’s transpired over the 25 years since our ’99 win is massive but it’s really still just the start of where women can go in sports.”
Tap the link in bio to read her reflection and listen to the entire 2015 letter, via News+.
Photo: Robert Beck/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
On the morning of July 27, 1973, two Brooklyn teenagers, 16-year-old Mitchel Weiser and 15-year-old Bonnie Bickwit, set out for central New York to attend Summer Jam, one of the biggest concerts in rock history. But on their way, Weiser and Bickwit vanished without a trace — and were never seen again.
The couple, initially dismissed as romantic runaways, represent the oldest missing-teen cases in the U.S. But now, after decades of police mistakes and false leads, investigators have several theories about what might have happened to them — and have even identified a possible suspect.
Read more at the link in bio, via News+.
Photo: Rolling Stone/
Summer heat got you down? Well, you’re probably not alone — and your feelings are scientifically valid. (Cue Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness.”)
While winter — with its long, dark nights — is the season most associated with low mood and depression, summer’s sun-filled, humid days can also bring on the doldrums. In fact, some people suffer from a summertime version of seasonal-affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression with a periodic pattern.
Those with this lesser-known and lesser-studied summer SAD variant may feel “out of sync with the rest of the world” because they experience depression just as summer breaks and pool-party invites pick up, says Thomas Wehr, a psychiatrist and scientist emeritus at the National Institutes of Health.
The prevalence of summertime SAD remains unclear, but as climate change makes extreme weather more common, understanding the effects of hot days on mental health — and developing new, effective treatments — is becoming more important.
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @scientific_american in Apple News+.
Illustration: Moor Studio/Getty Images
On an all-hands call with campaign staffers today, President Biden reportedly made clear that he didn’t plan to exit the 2024 presidential race, telling attendees, “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running,” according to one campaign official on the call.
“No one is pushing me out,” Biden added, also saying, “I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end, and we’re going to win.”
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @nbcnews .
Photo: Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
A few months ago, a young Black gay patient in a Southern state tapped out a message on his phone that he might not have been comfortable raising in person at his local sexual-health clinic. “I’m struggling with my relationship with sex,” he wrote, knowing there’d be an immediate response — and no judgment. “I feel like sometimes it’s an impulse action and I end up doing sexual things that I don’t really want to do.”
“Oh, honey,” came a swift response, capped with a pink heart and a sparkle emoji. “You’re not alone in feeling this way, and it takes courage to speak up about it.” After directing him to a professional, it added, “while I’m here to strut the runway of health information and support, I’m not equipped to deep dive into the emotional oceans.”
This is just one of the thousands of delicate issues patients have shared confidentially with an AI chatbot from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit offering sexual-health and HIV care at clinics in 15 states. The tool can dispense educational information about sexually transmitted infections in real time and is also designed to manage appointments, deliver test results, and support patients, especially those vulnerable to infections like HIV but who are historically underserved.
The kicker: As part of a provocative new patient-engagement strategy, the foundation chose to deliver those services with the voice of a drag queen. The AI model was fine-tuned using vocabulary from interviews with drag performers, popular shows like ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ and input from staff familiar with drag culture.
“Drag queens are about acceptance and taking you as you are,” said the foundation’s vice president for public health, Whitney Engeran-Cordova. “You’re getting the unvarnished, nonjudgmental, empathetic truth.”
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @statnews .
Photo-illustration: Adobe, via STAT
Anecdotal reports about a global rise in head-lice cases have prompted warnings from some experts about a popular, universal activity among children and teenagers: taking selfies.
The itchy parasites are typically spread through direct head-to-head contact. And getting close for group selfies — which often means pressing two or more heads together to fit into a cellphone frame — could give head lice an opportunity to crawl from one head to another.
Selfies “serve as a significant transmission source,” said Federico Galassi, a researcher with the Pest and Insecticide Research Center in Buenos Aires.
At the link in bio, read more about claims of a lice resurgence, plus how to avoid the creatures and what to do if you have them, via @washingtonpost .
Illustration: Emily Sabens/The Washington Post
Today, the FDA approved a new Alzheimer’s drug that has been shown in clinical trials to modestly slow a decline in memory and thinking abilities in people with the disease. It’s the second Alzheimer’s drug of its kind to be approved.
The drug, donanemab (to be sold under the brand name Kisunla), was cleared for use in adults with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease, the drugmaker Eli Lilly said. It works by targeting amyloid in the brain, considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
The approval is significant because it adds another treatment option for the devastating disease, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic. Last summer, the FDA granted full approval to a similar drug called Leqembi.
“It will give clinicians and patients a choice,” Petersen said.
An estimated 6.7 million Americans ages 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s in 2023, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. That number is projected to increase to 13.8 million by 2060.
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @nbcnews .
Photo: BSIP/UIG, via Getty Images
It’s undeniable: The era of Chappell Roan is upon us. At music festivals and on lists forecasting pop’s next big thing, there she is: big red hair and big powerhouse voice, unapologetically queer lyrics, and exuberant drag-queen aesthetic. This is the summer Chappell Roan became impossible to ignore.
Roan has been a working pop artist for years. Now 26, she signed her first record deal with Atlantic Records at 17 and has been putting out songs ever since — but for a long time, none of them seemed to quite hit. Last September, though, Roan released her first full album, ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,’ and set off on tour as Olivia Rodrigo’s opener. Since then, she has gone viral for her appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, was the highlight of Governors Ball, and has climbed the pop charts for her single “Good Luck, Babe!”
Roan’s trajectory reveals a lot about why, exactly, she’s taking off so precipitously right now. It’s the story of coming of age, both artistically and personally, at exactly the right time and place.
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @voxdotcom .
Photo: Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
A new tropical depression formed in the Atlantic Ocean last Friday. A mere two days later it had become a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, making landfall in Grenada on Monday. It’s since strengthened to Category 5 and is currently barreling toward Jamaica.
The storm’s rapid and unprecedented intensification this early in the season has left meteorologists shocked. “Beryl is rewriting the history books in all the wrong ways,” wrote Eric Blake, a scientist at the National Hurricane Center, in a post on X.
And it likely won’t be the only exceptional storm this year. “I think it is kind of an omen of what the hurricane season will be,” says Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami.
Tap the link in bio to read more, via @scientific_american .
Photo: CIRA/NOAA
Right now is a dangerous time of year for avocado lovers. Thousands of people slice their hands and fingers every year while cutting the fruit, and research shows that most of these injuries occur from April through July.
Hand surgeons see these injuries so often that they have a name for it: avocado hand.
The injury typically occurs when someone holds an avocado in one hand and wields a sharp knife in the other. When the knife slips or the person loses their grip on the avocado as they’re cutting it, the knife can slice into their palm or fingers. It’s not uncommon for people to sever nerves and tendons. In some cases, people stab themselves in the hand while using the tip of a knife to remove the pit.
Want to avoid a trip to the emergency room while making your next batch of guacamole? Check out the link in bio for tips, via @washingtonpost .
Photo: Getty Images
Simone Biles qualified for her third Olympic team after dominating the all-around at the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in Minneapolis this weekend. She particularly dazzled in her floor routine, flying 12 feet into the air during one of her eponymous skills (a triple-twisting double backflip) and bringing the crowd to their feet.
Watch the entire performance at the link in bio, via @forthewin .
Photo: Nikolas Liepins/Anadolu via Getty Images
#simonebiles#gymnastics#olympics
