Life

Health, science, climate, and society-focused reporting.

Briefing: Drug smoking can lead to severe burns, complicating harm reduction efforts

Strategic angle: A new study reveals that opioid smokers are four times more likely to suffer severe burns compared to those who inject drugs.

Editorial Staff Mar 18

Life

Briefing: Opinion: Exposed and invisible in an ER hallway bed

Strategic angle: Hallway beds cut into the bones that sustain emergency medicine, shaving away layers of moral tenets and high standards.

Editorial Staff Mar 18

Life

Briefing: Opinion: I was a surgeon. The hardest part of leaving medicine was believing that I could

Strategic angle: Leaving her career as a surgeon, Frances Mei Hardin writes, “was the beginning of a life I actually wanted.”

Editorial Staff Mar 18

Life

Briefing: NIH Director Promises Full Budget Spending by 2026

Strategic angle: Jay Bhattacharya assures House appropriators that the NIH will utilize its entire budget by the end of the fiscal year 2026.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Key Global Health Positions and Officials in the U.S. Government

Strategic angle: This fact sheet identifies key U.S. government global health positions and officials.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Eight Trends Shaping 2026 Health Care Costs

Strategic angle: A new Peterson-KFF policy explainer lays out the health care trends shaping the 2026 policy debates.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: VC Firm Dimension Scouting Out $700 Million for New Fund

Strategic angle: A buzzy venture capital firm has started raising its third fund, hoping to amass around $700 million to invest in companies that meld AI and science.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Judge deals blow to RFK Jr.’s vaccine reforms

Strategic angle: The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that was scheduled for this week has been postponed.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Senator Blasts GSK Inhaler Practices, Calls for Reform

Strategic angle: Trump adds pressure to codify MFN, a judge stalls Kennedy's changes to vaccine policy, and more biotech news.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Abortion on the 2026 Ballot: The Evolving Landscape of State Abortion Initiatives

Strategic angle: This issue brief reviews the abortion-related initiatives currently slated to be on the ballot in November 2026 and examines how these measures may impact abortion access in the state.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Smoking rates are at a historic low. You’re not hearing about it from the government

Strategic angle: The CDC had remarkable data on smoking rates last fall, but it no longer had smoking experts available to review it and disseminate it.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Epic notches a legal win, but the saga continues

Strategic angle: An update on Epic's lawsuit over alleged improper access to health records, Nvidia's new radiology AI partnership, and more.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: NIH Grant Awards Are Lagging (Again)

Strategic angle: How to type with your mind, who might not need to take blood pressure meds, and other health news.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Trump's Drug Pricing Moves and GSK Asthma Drug Insights

Strategic angle: The White House intensifies pressure on Congress for drug pricing legislation.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: For decades, they’ve set the record straight in biology. Next up: science’s reproducibility crisis

Strategic angle: A group of researchers are launching an effort to validate big scientific claims, with help from artificial intelligence.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: NIH Grant Awards Lag Behind Historical Averages

Strategic angle: New analysis reveals that NIH is significantly behind on grant spending as the 2026 fiscal year progresses.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Opinion: Semaglutide is going off-patent in India. But will people who need it be able to get it?

Strategic angle: Rules determining who gets access to semaglutide in India were written for different bodies with different cardiovascular risks.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Opinion: The greatest threat to federally qualified health centers may not be federal funding cuts

Strategic angle: After 50 years of operation, FQHCs are discovering that their financial structure has not kept pace with the realities of delivering on their mission.

Editorial Staff Mar 17

Life

Briefing: Federal judge stalls health secretary RFK Jr.’s overhaul of vaccine policy

Strategic angle: A federal judge on Monday stalled major parts of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to remake vaccine policy in the U.S.

Editorial Staff Mar 16

Life

Briefing: Medicaid Still Going Commercial

Strategic angle: One of the most interesting health care legal cases right now, big Medicaid approvals, and more.

Editorial Staff Mar 16