When a young man detonated a car bomb in the parking lot of a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic last week, killing himself and injuring four others, I assumed the attack was related in some distorted way to pro-life politics. Despite the Trump administration's recent embrace of in vitro fertilization, some pro-lifers, especially conservative Catholics, are opposed to the practice because it can lead to the disposal of embryos. That fact, coupled with the historical association between extreme anti-abortion sentiment and clinic bombings, led me to anticipate a news cycle concerning radical efforts to restrict abortion. I was wrong. The bombing, carried out by a 25-year-old California native named Guy Edward Bartkus, was an attempt to prevent couples from accessing IVF, not because the process produces some embryos that wind up dead, but rather because it produces some embryos that wind up alive. Bartkus, who left behind an online screed titled 'Fuck you pro-lifers!' complete with an index of links and an .mp3 file explaining his agenda, was an avowed 'pro-mortalist''someone who objects to the creation of new people because, the reasoning goes, no one can consent to being conceived, and that initial unfairness only exposes new consciousness to the suffering of life and the inevitability of death. This is the mind virus that Bartkus was hoping to spread with his attack and its explanation. For that reason alone, it deserves refuting: Life is good and worth defending....

The writers at game studio Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, California, were inspired by real fungi ' particularly Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, known as the zombie-ant fungus. The fungus infects insects and releases chemicals into the animals' brains to change their behaviour. Ahead of the game's release, Naughty Dog turned to scientists, including behavioural ecologist David Hughes, a specialist in zombie-ant fungi (he named one after his wife), to field questions from the media about the fungal and pandemic science that inspired the story. Hughes, who is at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, has since moved to studying climate change and food security. Naughty Dog studios asked me and a few other people who were notable in this space, including psychologists, to talk about whether we could have a global pandemic. Of course, in the intervening period, we all learnt that the answer was yes. They asked us to go around Europe and do a series of lectures to stave off critique and provide support to the idea that infections that jump from one species into another ' zoonotic infections ' are not only possible, but actually they're the predominant mechanism by which humans are infected with new parasites that cause disease. I had the good fortune to go to the studios and see the artistry that was involved, meet the team and the voice actors of the of the video game....

When your immune system detects harmful microbes, your body raises its internal temperature to create a hostile environment. Turning up the heat suppresses the proliferation of invaders. In short, the fever is the body's way of fighting back. Suppose you catch a virus. The immune system responds by releasing molecules called pyrogens, which induce fever. They signal the brain's hypothalamus to raise the body's set point temperature ' like adjusting a thermostat. When that happens, your muscles contract, causing shivers, and blood vessels constrict to retain heat. You'll feel cold until your body reaches the new set point, often prompting you to add clothes or snuggle into blankets. When the infection subsides, pyrogens decrease and the hypothalamus resets the temperature. You sweat, your blood vessels dilate, and you cool off. You're feeling better. Humans are not special in this regard; all mammals are capable of generating fevers. Even without taking their temperature, you might recognize the signs in a familiar companion. When dogs have a fever, they often lose their appetite, become lethargic and may shiver ' behaviors that closely resemble how people respond when they're running a fever....

The agency said it would approve new versions of the vaccine only for adults 65 years of age and older as well as for people with one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. These risk factors include medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes. However, healthy younger adults and children who fall outside of these groups may not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 shot this fall. Vaccine manufacturers will have to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that the vaccine benefits low-risk groups. According to Makary and Prasad, the Food and Drug Administration is moving away from these universal recommendations and instead taking a risk-based approach based on its interpretation of public health trends ' specifically, the declining COVID-19 booster uptake, a lack of strong evidence that repeated boosters improve health outcomes for healthy people and the fact that natural immunity from past COVID-19 infections is widespread. The FDA's decision to adopt a risk-based framework for the COVID-19 vaccine aligns with the expected recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an advisory group of vaccine experts offering expert guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, which is scheduled to meet in June 2025. But while this advisory committee was also expected to recommend allowing low-risk people to get annual COVID-19 vaccines if they want to, the FDA's policy will likely make that difficult....