Yodeling Monkeys, Increasing Measles Cases and Stressed Out Americans

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

The Trump administration continues to make cuts to U.S. science and health agencies. Now some states are fighting back, suing the Department of Health and Human Services for slashing $11 billion in public health funds. A study finds that Americans live shorter lives than Europeans with the same income—stress and other systemic issues could be to blame. While much-hyped asteroid 2024 YR4 is no longer a risk to Earth, it could still hit the moon—a possibility that has some scientists excited. Plus, we give an update on the U.S.’s measles outbreak and the troubling hesitancy that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is showing toward communicating with the public. Recommended reading: As Measles Continues to Rise, CDC Muffles Vaccine Messaging JWST Delivers Best-Yet Look at That Worrisome Asteroid Americans Are Lonelier Than Europeans in Middle Age E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:22.9	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Happy Monday listeners, and happy April.
0:40.4	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:43.8	Let's kick off the week with a quick roundup of science news you might have missed.
0:53.0	To start, we have some public health updates.
0:56.2	Last Friday, the Texas Health Department reported that there have been 481 known measles cases since late January, up from 400 on March 28th.
1:05.8	Texas Public Radio recently reported that several children with measles have also needed treatment for toxic levels
1:11.2	of vitamin A. As I explained in the March 10th News Roundup episode, U.S. Health and Human
1:16.7	Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly touted vitamin A supplementation for
1:21.6	measles patients while seemingly downplaying the importance of vaccines. According to a recent report by ProPublica, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1:30.8	leaders blocked the release of an assessment on the ongoing outbreak written by the agency's
1:35.2	own experts.
1:36.9	The planned messaging around the assessment reportedly would have emphasized the need
1:40.8	for vaccinations to prevent measles.
1:43.4	In a statement to ProPublica, a CDC spokesperson claimed
1:46.4	that this report was not published, quote, because it does not say anything that the public doesn't
1:50.8	already know, and that the CDC still prevents vaccines as, quote, the best way to protect against
1:56.0	measles. But the spokesperson went on to add that the decision to vaccinate is a personal one,
2:01.5	saying that folks should be informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines.
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