January 26, 2025WHO Withdrawal, Bird Flu News and the Way Prehab Affects Surgical OutcomesA rundown on whats at stake for global health if the U.S. withdraws from the World Health Organization and an update on bird flu are in this weeks science news roundup. Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/Scientific AmericanSUBSCRIBE TO Science QuicklyRachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners. For Scientific Americans Science Quickly, Im Rachel Feltman. Lets kick off the week by catching up on some of the latest science news.[CLIP: None of My Business, by Arthur Benson]Feltman: First, weve got a quick update from one of our SciAm correspondents. On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization, or WHO. Here to unpack that for us is Tanya Lewis, a senior editor covering health and medicine at Scientific American.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Tanya Lewis: The World Health Organization is an agency of the United Nations. It was founded in 1948, and it has nearly 200 member states. It has a pretty broad scope, from working to expand health care access around the world to responding to disease outbreaks and pandemics.So Trump issued an executive order that signaled that he intends to withdraw from the WHO, but the full process actually takes a year. He tried to do this during his last term, but Biden reversed it before it took effect.Trump said hes withdrawing because he thinks the organization handled the COVID pandemic poorly and because he thinks the U.S. pays an unfair share of the agencys funding. Its true that we do pay the most of any member country, but most of our contributions are actually voluntary and earmarked for specific projects.[CLIP: The Farmhouse, by Silver Maple]Lewis: The WHO is definitely not perfect. It did make some notable mistakes during the pandemic. For example, the agency initially dismissed the possibility that the virus was airborne, and it was very slow to correct that idea, but it did still play an important role in communicating information to countries and helping them get access to vaccines and treatments for the disease.The WHO has a very broad remit, which arguably makes it harder to achieve any one goal, and at the end of the day, it really lacks the power to enforce any rules on its member states.Being part of WHO means the U.S. gets a seat at the table for how the rest of the world handles major health challenges, and experts have told me that if we leave, it will create a vacuum that China will probably fill. The WHO also shares important data and information with its member states, such as the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Our CDC and other health agencies can fill some of these gaps, but the U.S. withdrawing will definitely have a big impact on the WHO and on other countries. Clear global communication will be especially important if we face a pandemic of bird flu, which poses a growing threat here in the U.S.Many of the WHOs member states are low- or middle-income countries that rely on the public health expertise of U.S. scientists because they dont have a strong CDC of their own. These countries could have a much harder time fighting disease outbreaks or improving health care access. And even though it seems like the WHO gets a lot more from the U.S. than the other way around, its really important to be a part of these larger conversations around global public health threats because if theres one thing weve learned from the COVID pandemic, its that viruses and diseases do not respect borders, and if we dont know what threats there are around the world, we wont be able to protect Americans at home.Feltman: Thanks for that explainer, Tanya. Listeners, well keep tabs on this and other executive orders related to science and health as we move forward.Now lets forget things on Earth for a minute by checking out some space news.[CLIP: Handwriting, by Frank Jonsson]Feltman: Last Tuesday scientists publishing in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics described an exoplanet with wind speeds that put those found in our own solar system to shame. WASP-127b, which is about 520 light-years away, has supersonic jet-stream winds unlike any weve seen before. At the planets equator, winds move at around 20,100 miles per hour. While a couple of other exoplanets have been found with faster atmospheric wind speeds, this is the fastest jet stream found circling around a whole planet, according to Reuters. For context our own planets jet streams can sometimes make it over 275 miles per hour. And the fastest winds on Neptune, which is widely thought to have the strongest winds in our solar system, can surpass 1,100 miles per hour.WASP-127b is a type of gas giant known as a hot Jupiter, which, among other things, means that its quite close to its host star. The windy world is about a third larger than Jupiter but has only around 16 percent of the massso its pretty fluffy. It also has one side facing its sun in perpetual daylight. In fact, one of the study's authors told Reuters that this fierce radiation provides the main energy source for those intense winds.Back down on Earth weve got a troubling bird flu update. On January 17 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced new policies and regulations for pet food manufacturers in response to more than a dozen deaths or illnesses among domestic cats. H5N1 cases in domestic and wild cats have been connected to raw food products in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California, according to the agency. According to the CDC and the American Veterinary Medical Association, cooked and pasteurized pet foods are the safest options, especially given the ongoing bird flu outbreak. But the FDA is now requiring cat and dog food manufacturers that do use raw poultry or beef products to develop and implement food safety plans that take H5N1 into account.[CLIP: It Doesnt End Here (Instrumental), by Nehemiah Pratt]Feltman: For some pets, a bird flu infection can have serious consequences. While dogs seem to generally experience only mild illness when infected with H5N1, cats can experience seizures and blindness. Now, theres currently no evidence that cats can pass bird flu on to humans, but while the risk of such a jump is extremely low, its not zero, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Of course, youre much more at risk if youre partaking in raw dairy and unpasteurized products yourself. But if youre worried about switching up your shopping habits, either for you or your pets, the good news is theres no evidence that raw dairy provides any health benefits for humansat least none that you wouldnt also get from drinking pasteurized dairyand the World Small Animal Veterinary Association says the same is true of raw meat and dairy for cats.In other health news, two new studies offer advice for dealing with surgery and serious illness. A paper published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine focused on how physical fitness can improve outcomes during cancer treatment. The paper, which reviewed 42 previous studies involving nearly 47,000 patients, found that muscular strength was associated with a significantly lower risk of death, and high cardiorespiratory fitness had a similar link. The researchers say its possible that tailored strength training and other workout programs could promote better outcomes for cancer patients.[CLIP: Those Rainy Days, by Elm Lake]Feltman: Another study published last Wednesday in the BMJ explored the importance of prehabilitation, a.k.a. prehab. Youre likely already familiar with the idea of rehabthe kind of physical therapy and support you might get after particular types of surgery. Prehab allows people to access nutritional support, exercise guidance, cognitive training and other potentially helpful services before a planned surgery.According to the new study, which reviewed data from more than 186 clinical trials involving a total of more than 15,000 patients, there is consistent evidence that prehab improves surgical outcomes. The researchers say the effects of exercise-based prehab programs are especially significant. And although the researchers called for further investigation into exactly what kinds of prehab are most effective and why, the studys lead author noted in a press release that if youre preparing to undergo surgery, its always a good idea to ask your doctor about prehab options.Okay, lets end on a fun note. Youve heard of contagious laughter and probably contagious yawning. But what about contagious peeing?In a study published last week in Current Biology, researchers from Kyoto University in Japan described an unusual social phenomenon in captive chimpanzees. After spending more than 600 hours observing the animals, the researchers concluded that chimps are ever-so-slightly more likely to pee after they see other chimps do it. The effect was amplified if chimps were physically closer to each other.[CLIP: Theme music]Feltman: The researchers also noticed that a chimps social standing seemed to impact their urine influencer status: low-ranking chimps were more likely to copy the bathroom behaviors of high-ranking chimps. And to that I say: Gee whiz! Sorry.Thats all for this weeks news roundup. Well be back on Wednesday to talk all about the science of the sun. And on Friday well be chatting with an expert on human behavior about why being cynical might not be as protective as you think.Science Quickly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.For Scientific American, this is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!