Cool Finds Archaeologists Stumble Onto Sprawling Ancient Roman Villa During Construction of a Road in France Located near Auxerre, the grand estate once possessed an exorbitant level of wealth, with thermal baths and heated floors Aerial view of the villa, with thermal baths at the bottom right, the garden and fountain in the center, and the agricultural fields expanding to the left Ch. Fouquin / INRAP In ancient times, all roads led to Rome—or so the saying goes. Nowadays, new roads can lead to Roman ruins. During construction on an alternative route to D606, a regional road just under two miles outside of Auxerre, in central France, salvage archaeologists unearthed a sprawling Roman villa complete with a stately garden, a fountain and an elaborate system of underfloor heating known as a hypocaust, according to a statement from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research. While researchers have been aware of the ruins on the outskirts of the Gallo-Roman settlement of Autissiodorumsince the 19th century, previous excavations have been limited. The most recent dig, in 1966, found a 7,500-square-foot building with ten rooms and amenities that suggested its residents enjoyed great wealth and regional power. The site of Sainte-Nitasse, adjacent to a regional highway Ch. Fouquin / INRAP But until now, the true scale of the villa known as Sainte-Nitasse and its surrounding agricultural estates along the River Yonne was unclear. Archaeologists at INRAP have since discovered a 43,000-square-foot building thought to date to between the first and third centuries C.E. It suggests a previously unimagined level of grandeur. INRAP identifies the site as one of the “grand villas of Roman Gaul,” according to the statement. Grand villas are typified by their vast dimensions and sophisticated architectural style. They typically encompass both agricultural and residential portions, known in Latin as pars rustica and pars urbana, respectively. In the pars urbana, grand villas tend to feature stately construction materials like marble; extensive mosaics and frescoes; and amenities like private baths, fountains and gardens. So far, the excavations at Sainte-Nitasse have revealed all these features and more. The villa’s development is extensive. A 4,800-square-foot garden is enclosed by a fountain to the south and a water basin, or an ornamental pond, to the north. The hypocaust, an ancient system of central heating that circulated hot air beneath the floors of the house, signals a level of luxury atypical for rural estates in Roman Gaul. A section of the villa's hypocaust heating system, which circulated hot air beneath the floor Ch. Fouquin / INRAP “We can imagine it as an ‘aristocratic’ villa, belonging to someone with riches, responsibilities—perhaps municipal, given the proximity to Auxerre—a landowner who had staff on site,” Alexandre Burgevin, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations with INRAP, tells France Info’s Lisa Guyenne. Near the banks of the Yonne, a thermal bath site contains several pools where the landowner and his family bathed. On the other side of the garden, workers toiled in the fields of a massive agricultural estate. Aside from its size and amenities, the villa’s level of preservation also astounded archaeologists. “For a rural site, it’s quite exceptional,” Burgevin tells L’Yonne Républicaine’s Titouan Stücker. “You can walk on floors from the time period, circulate between rooms like the Gallo-Romans did.”Over time, Autissiodorum grew to become a major city along the Via Agrippa, eventually earning the honor of serving as a provincial Roman capital by the fourth century C.E. As Gaul began slipping away from the Roman Empire around the same time, the prominence of the city fluctuated. INRAP archaeologists speculate that the site was repurposed during medieval times, around the 13th century. Burgevin offers several explanations for why the site remained so well preserved in subsequent centuries. The humid conditions along the banks of the river might have prevented excess decay. Since this portion of the River Yonne wasn’t canalized until the 19th century, engineers may have already been aware of the presence of ruins. Or, perhaps the rubble of the villa created “bumpy,” intractable soil that was “not easy to pass over with a tractor,” he tells France Info. While the site will briefly open to the public on June 15 for European Archaeology Days, an annual event held at sites across the continent, excavations will continue until September, at which time construction on the road will resume. Much work is to be done, including filling in large gaps of the site’s chronology between the Roman and medieval eras. “We have well-built walls but few objects,” says Burgevin, per L’Yonne Républicaine. “It will be necessary to continue digging to understand better.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. #archaeologists #stumble #onto #sprawling #ancient

The probability of any American having dementia in their lifetime may be far greater than previously thought. For instance, a 2025 study that tracked a large sample of American adults across more than three decades found that their average likelihood of developing dementia between ages 55 to 95 was 42%, and that figure was even higher among women, Black adults and those with genetic risk. Now, a great deal of attention is being paid to how to stave off cognitive decline in the aging American population. But what is often missing from this conversation is the role that chronic stress can play in how well people age from a cognitive standpoint, as well as everybody’s risk for dementia. We are professors at Penn State in the Center for Healthy Aging, with expertise in health psychology and neuropsychology. We study the pathways by which chronic psychological stress influences the risk of dementia and how it influences the ability to stay healthy as people age. Recent research shows that Americans who are currently middle-aged or older report experiencing more frequent stressful events than previous generations. A key driver behind this increase appears to be rising economic and job insecurity, especially in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession and ongoing shifts in the labor market. Many people stay in the workforce longer due to financial necessity, as Americans are living longer and face greater challenges covering basic expenses in later life. Therefore, it may be more important than ever to understand the pathways by which stress influences cognitive aging. Social isolation and stress Although everyone experiences some stress in daily life, some people experience stress that is more intense, persistent or prolonged. It is this relatively chronic stress that is most consistently linked with poorer health. In a recent review paper, our team summarized how chronic stress is a hidden but powerful factor underlying cognitive aging, or the speed at which your cognitive performance slows down with age. It is hard to overstate the impact of stress on your cognitive health as you age. This is in part because your psychological, behavioral and biological responses to everyday stressful events are closely intertwined, and each can amplify and interact with the other. For instance, living alone can be stressful—particularly for older adults—and being isolated makes it more difficult to live a healthy lifestyle, as well as to detect and get help for signs of cognitive decline. Moreover, stressful experiences—and your reactions to them—can make it harder to sleep well and to engage in other healthy behaviors, like getting enough exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. In turn, insufficient sleep and a lack of physical activity can make it harder to cope with stressful experiences. Stress is often missing from dementia prevention efforts A robust body of research highlights the importance of at least 14 different factors that relate to your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a common and devastating form of dementia and other forms of dementia. Although some of these factors may be outside of your control, such as diabetes or depression, many of these factors involve things that people do, such as physical activity, healthy eating and social engagement. What is less well-recognized is that chronic stress is intimately interwoven with all of these factors that relate to dementia risk. Our work and research by others that we reviewed in our recent paper demonstrate that chronic stress can affect brain function and physiology, influence mood and make it harder to maintain healthy habits. Yet, dementia prevention efforts rarely address stress. Avoiding stressful events and difficult life circumstances is typically not an option. Where and how you live and work plays a major role in how much stress you experience. For example, people with lower incomes, less education or those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods often face more frequent stress and have fewer forms of support—such as nearby clinics, access to healthy food, reliable transportation or safe places to exercise or socialize—to help them manage the challenges of aging As shown in recent work on brain health in rural and underserved communities, these conditions can shape whether people have the chance to stay healthy as they age. Over time, the effects of stress tend to build up, wearing down the body’s systems and shaping long-term emotional and social habits. Lifestyle changes to manage stress and lessen dementia risk The good news is that there are multiple things that can be done to slow or prevent dementia, and our review suggests that these can be enhanced if the role of stress is better understood. Whether you are a young, midlife or an older adult, it is not too early or too late to address the implications of stress on brain health and aging. Here are a few ways you can take direct actions to help manage your level of stress: Follow lifestyle behaviors that can improve healthy aging. These include: following a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity and getting enough sleep. Even small changes in these domains can make a big difference. Prioritize your mental health and well-being to the extent you can. Things as simple as talking about your worries, asking for support from friends and family and going outside regularly can be immensely valuable. If your doctor says that you or someone you care about should follow a new health care regimen, or suggests there are signs of cognitive impairment, ask them what support or advice they have for managing related stress. If you or a loved one feel socially isolated, consider how small shifts could make a difference. For instance, research suggests that adding just one extra interaction a day—even if it’s a text message or a brief phone call—can be helpful, and that even interactions with people you don’t know well, such as at a coffee shop or doctor’s office, can have meaningful benefits. Walkable neighborhoods, lifelong learning A 2025 study identified stress as one of 17 overlapping factors that affect the odds of developing any brain disease, including stroke, late-life depression and dementia. This work suggests that addressing stress and overlapping issues such as loneliness may have additional health benefits as well. However, not all individuals or families are able to make big changes on their own. Research suggests that community-level and workplace interventions can reduce the risk of dementia. For example, safe and walkable neighborhoods and opportunities for social connection and lifelong learning—such as through community classes and events—have the potential to reduce stress and promote brain health. Importantly, researchers have estimated that even a modest delay in disease onset of Alzheimer’s would save hundreds of thousands of dollars for every American affected. Thus, providing incentives to companies who offer stress management resources could ultimately save money as well as help people age more healthfully. In addition, stress related to the stigma around mental health and aging can discourage people from seeking support that would benefit them. Even just thinking about your risk of dementia can be stressful in itself. Things can be done about this, too. For instance, normalizing the use of hearing aids and integrating reports of perceived memory and mental health issues into routine primary care and workplace wellness programs could encourage people to engage with preventive services earlier. Although research on potential biomedical treatments is ongoing and important, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. However, if interventions aimed at reducing stress were prioritized in guidelines for dementia prevention, the benefits could be far-reaching, resulting in both delayed disease onset and improved quality of life for millions of people. Jennifer E. Graham-Engeland is a professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State. Martin J. Sliwinski is a professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. #want #lower #your #dementia #risk

The anti-aging supplement industry is valued at many billions of dollars, with North America offering the largest market worldwide. Through clever marketing, many such supplements have promised consumers everything from halting to reversing the aging process — often without clear scientific evidence to back it up.However, recent findings from a long-term randomized controlled study have put a widely used and potent supplement into the anti-aging spotlight: Vitamin D.A sub-study from the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and led by researchers at Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia, has revealed that long-term Vitamin D supplementation may actually slow aging on a cellular level. This adds even more promise to Vitamin D’s already impressive list of health benefits.There's More to Vitamin D Roughly a quarter of Americans take Vitamin D supplements daily — and for good reason. While this fat-soluble vitamin is best known for maintaining bone health by helping regulate calcium and phosphorus, its role in the body extends far beyond that. Vitamin D also supports immune function, regulates inflammation, and influences cell growth to name a few.That said, getting enough Vitamin D naturally can be challenging. It’s found mainly in fatty animal products like fish, red meat, and eggs. Our skin can also synthesize it through sun exposure — which isn’t always a reliable source due to lifestyle, geography, or sunscreen use. This is why many people end up deficient.With the latest findings from the VITAL Trial, the benefits of adequate Vitamin D supplementation may now include not just stronger bones and better immunity but also support for healthy aging.Read More: What's the Difference Between Vitamin D2 and D3?Vitamin D Prevented Aging on Cellular Level“VITAL is the first large-scale and long-term randomized trial to show that vitamin D supplements protect telomeres and preserve telomere length,” said JoAnn Manson, principal investigator of VITAL and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in a press statement.Telomeres — repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes — protect genetic material during cell division. As we age, telomeres naturally shorten, a process linked to increased risk of age-related diseases and general cellular aging.While earlier small-scale studies offered mixed results, the VITAL Telomere sub-study stands out due to its size and rigor. It followed 1,054 participants aged 50 and older over four years, comparing those who took 2,000 IU of Vitamin D3 dailywith those who took a placebo. Telomere length was measured at the start, at two years, and at four years.The results? Vitamin D3 supplementation significantly slowed telomere shortening — effectively preserving the equivalent of close to three years of cellular aging compared to the placebo group.Why Aging Research Matters“Our findings suggest that targeted vitamin D supplementation may be a promising strategy to counter a biological aging process, although further research is warranted,” said study’s first author Haidong Zhu, a molecular geneticist at the Medical College of Georgia in the news release.Aging research often gets lumped in with science fiction-like efforts to stop aging or live forever, but its real goal is far more grounded: to improve health across the lifespan. Instead of chasing immortality, scientists aim to extend the health span — the number of years people live free of chronic disease and disability.By uncovering interventions like Vitamin D that can support healthier aging, researchers hope to help more people enjoy a higher quality of life well into their later years, without resorting to expensive or unproven treatments.This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Cleveland Clinic: Vitamin D DeficiencyNational Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin D Fact Sheet for Health ProfessionalsHaving worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard. #vital #bone #health #vitamin #also

May 23, 20257 min readWhat FDA’s Planned Limits on COVID Vaccinations Mean for HealthDespite the fact that vaccines against COVID have already undergone strict safety reviews and that people continue to die from the disease, Trump’s FDA is moving to reduce access to annual COVID boosters for healthy AmericansBy Stephanie Armour & KFF Health News aire images/Getty ImagesLarry Saltzman has blood cancer. He’s also a retired doctor, so he knows getting covid-19 could be dangerous for him — his underlying illness puts him at high risk of serious complications and death. To avoid getting sick, he stays away from large gatherings, and he’s comforted knowing healthy people who get boosters protect him by reducing his exposure to the virus.Until now, that is.Vaccine opponents and skeptics in charge of federal health agencies — starting at the top with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are restricting access to covid shots that were a signature accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s first term and cost taxpayers about billion to develop, produce, and distribute. The agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform costly clinical studies, and taking other steps that will result in fewer people getting protection from a virus that still kills hundreds each week in the U.S.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.“There are hundreds of thousands of people who rely on these vaccines,” said Saltzman, 71, of Sacramento, California. “For people who are immunocompromised, if there aren’t enough people vaccinated, we lose the ring that’s protecting us. We’re totally vulnerable.”The Trump administration on May 20 rolled out tougher approval requirements for covid shots, described as a covid-19 “vaccination regulatory framework,” that could leave millions of Americans who want boosters unable to get them.The FDA will encourage new clinical trials on the widely used vaccines before approving them for children and healthy adults. The requirements could cost drugmakers tens of millions of dollars and are likely to leave boosters largely out of reach for hundreds of millions of Americans this fall.Under the new guidance, vaccines will be available for high-risk individuals and seniors. But the FDA will encourage drugmakers to commit to conducting post-marketing clinical trials in healthy adults when the agency approves covid vaccines for those populations.For the past five years, the shots have been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for everyone 6 months and older. They have been available each fall after being updated to reflect circulating strains of the virus, and the vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials.Vinay Prasad, who leads the FDA’s division overseeing vaccines, cited “distrust of the American public” as he announced the new guidelines at a May 20 briefing.“We have launched down this multiyear campaign of booster after booster after booster,” he said, adding that “we do not have gold-standard science to support this for average-risk, low-risk Americans.”The details were outlined in a May 20 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, written by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. He and Prasad later followed up with the briefing, which appeared the same day on YouTube.The added limits on access aren’t the result of any recent data showing there are new health risks from the covid vaccines. Instead, they reflect a different regulatory stance from Kennedy, who has a history of anti-vaccine activism, and Makary, who has questioned the safety data on covid mRNA shots.Announcing a major regulatory change in a medical journal and YouTube video is a highly unusual approach that still leaves many questions about implementation unanswered. It remains unclear when the changes will go into effect or whether there will be any public comment period. The changes were announced by the administration before an FDA advisory committee meeting on May 22 to consider the 2026 covid vaccine formula.It’s a sharp reversal from the first Trump administration, which launched Operation Warp Speed — the effort that led to the development of the covid shots. Trump called the vaccines the “gold standard” and a “monumental national achievement.”Concerns About Higher TransmissionThe announcement is rattling some patient advocacy groups, doctors, nursing home leaders, and researchers who worry about the ramifications. They say higher-risk individuals will be more likely to get covid if people who aren’t at risk don’t get boosters that can help reduce transmission. And they say the FDA’s restrictions go too far, because they don’t provide exceptions for healthy individuals who work in high-risk settings, such as hospitals, who may want a covid booster for protection.The limits will also make it harder to get insurance coverage for the vaccines. And the FDA’s new stance could also increase vaccine hesitancy by undermining confidence in covid vaccines that have already been subject to rigorous safety review, said Kate Broderick, chief innovation officer at Maravai Life Sciences, which makes mRNA products for use in vaccine development.“For the public, it raises questions,” she said. “If someone has concerns, I’d like them to know that of all the vaccines, the ones with the most understood safety profile are probably covid-19 vaccines. There is an incredible body of data and over 10 billion doses given.”Some doctors and epidemiologists say it could leave healthy people especially vulnerable if more virulent strains of covid emerge and they can’t access covid shots.“It’s not based on science,” said Rob Davidson, an emergency room doctor in Michigan and executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, which works to expand health care access. “It’s what we were all worried would happen. It risks peoples’ lives.”Current federal regulators say there is no high-quality evidence showing that vaccinating healthy people, including health workers who are near or around immunocompromised people, provides an additional benefit.“It is possible, actually, that such approvals and strategies provide false reassurance and lead to increased harms,” Prasad said.The covid vaccines underwent clinical trials to assess safety, and they have been subject to ongoing surveillance and monitoring since they obtained emergency use authorization from the FDA amid the pandemic. Heart issues and allergic reactions can occur but are rare, according to the CDC.On a separate track, the FDA on May 21 posted letters sent in April to makers of the mRNA covid vaccines to add information about possible heart injury on warning labels, a move that one former agency official described as overkill. The action came after the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a panel of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, held a hearing on alleged adverse events associated with covid vaccines.Limiting boosters to healthy people goes against guidance from some medical groups.“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and the best way to protect children,” Sean O’Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in an email. “Young children under 5 continue to be at the highest risk, with that risk decreasing as they get older.”Unsupported Claims About mRNA VaccinesThe covid booster clampdown is supported by many adherents of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which casts suspicion on traditional medicine. Some opponents of covid mRNA vaccines say without evidence that the shots cause “turbo” cancer, are genetic bioweapons, and cause more heart damage than the covid virus.There is no evidence the shots lead to rapid and aggressive cancers. Cancer rates decreased an average of 1.7% per year for men and 1.3% for women from 2018 to 2022, according to the National Institutes of Health. The covid vaccines debuted in 2021.Federal regulators say narrowing who can get the boosters will align the U.S. with policies of European nations. But other countries have vastly different economic structures for health care and approaches to preventive care. Many European countries, for example, don’t recommend flu shots for the entire population. The U.S. does in part because of the financial drain attributed to lost productivity when people are sick.They also want more information. “I think there’s a void of data,” Makary told CBS News on April 29. “And I think rather than allow that void to be filled with opinions, I’d like to see some good data.”A massive five-year study on covid vaccine safety by the Global Vaccine Data Network, involving millions of people, was underway, with about a year left before completion. The Trump administration terminated funding for the project as part of cuts directed by the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, and work on the study has stopped for now.There are a multitude of studies, however, on the vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death.Limiting boosters for healthy people can be risky, some doctors say, because people don’t always know when they fall into higher-risk categories, such as individuals who are prediabetic or have high blood pressure. The covid vaccine restrictions could deter them from getting boosted, and they might experience worse complications from the virus as a result. For example, about 40% of people with hepatitis C are unaware of their condition, according to a study published in 2023.The number of people getting covid vaccines has already dropped significantly since the height of the crisis. More than half of the more than 258 million adults in the U.S. had gotten a covid vaccination as of May 2021, according to the CDC. In each of the past two seasons, less than 25% of Americans received boosters, CDC data shows.While deaths from the virus have dropped, covid remains a risk, especially when cases peak in December and January. Weekly covid deaths topped 2,580 as recently as January 2024, according to CDC data.Some high-risk individuals are worried that the new restrictions are just the first salvo in halting all access to mRNA shots. “The HHS motivation really is hidden, and it’s to dismiss all mRNA technology,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota.Officials at the NIH have told scientists to remove references to mRNA in grant applications. HHS also announced plans in May to develop new vaccines without mRNA technology, which uses messenger RNA to instruct cells to make proteins that trigger an immune response.Rose Keller, 23, is concerned about future access to covid shots. She would be eligible under the current announcement — she has cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic condition that makes the mucus in her lungs thick and sticky, so covid could land her in the hospital. But she is concerned the Trump administration may go further and restrict access to the vaccines as part of a broader opposition to mRNA technology.“I’ve had every booster that’s available to me,” said Keller, a government employee in Augusta, Maine. “It’s a real worry if I don’t have the protection of a covid booster.”KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. #covid #vaccines #face #potential #new

A new TikTok trend, set to a snippet of Charli XCX’s “I Think About It All the Time” featuring Bon Iver, sees users, particularly Gen Z women, sharing lists of “propaganda” they’re not falling for in 2025.  One list, shared by TikTok creator Lxyzfbxx, includes the “clean girl look,” “the normalization of OF,” and “preventative Botox,” among other things. Another user listed “organic deodorant,” “Teslas,” and “mouth tape” among the modern-day propaganda. A third user included “push-up bras,” “being anti-sunscreen,” and “branded sweatshirts.” A fourth took aim at “working,” “a 9-5,” and “employment.” From social media trends to beauty standards, internet users are drawing attention to the capitalist, political, and aesthetic pressures that they’re subjected to daily, and they are de-normalizing those they see as unhealthy, undesirable, or just cringe.  “Propaganda I won’t be falling for”: How did the trend start? While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the trend began, it’s clear that it’s caught on: If there’s one thing social media loves, it’s a hot take—and it can be on anything from working a full-time job to singer-songwriter Benson Boone. For instance, 2024 was the year of the “in” and “out” lists. Now, with the hashtag “propaganda” currently at over 240,000 posts on TikTok, we have the 2025 version of a similar trend. However, what is and what isn’t propaganda varies wildly, depending on whom you ask. The comments section below many of these videos is a hotbed for debate. “Sorry but i WILL be falling for the Labubu propaganda everytime,” one person commented under a list that included the viral dolls. “I hate to admit it but Dubai chocolate is soooo bomb,” another commented under a propaganda list that included the pistachio-flavored chocolate. Take these opinions with a rather large pinch of salt. One frequent name that appears on many of these lists is singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. Does that mean the poster actually dislikes Abrams’s music? Not necessarily. As one TikTok user told The New York Times: “I think sometimes the internet just likes to have a running gag.”Casey Lewis, of the youth consumer trends newsletter After School, did the legwork and tallied up the most commonly mentioned “propaganda” across hundreds of TikToks. The top 10 list she compiled included matcha, the tradwife movement, MAHA-adjacent trends like beef tallow and anti-seed oil, author Colleen Hoover, and milk. Coming in at the No. 1 spot, to no one’s surprise, is ChatGPT.   #9to5 #jobs #chatgpt #preventive #botox

More hospitals want to bring care into the home, but many are missing the technology to support that shift. Axle Health is building AI that can help.Before launching Axle Health, CEO Adam Stansell helped launch Uber Eats in the northeastern US, coordinating food-delivery logistics in the new market. He later joined Motive, a logistics software company for trucking fleets.In 2020, when hospitals were scrambling to enable hospital-at-home care during the pandemic, Stansell, his cofounder Connor Hailey, and some of Stansell's former Uber colleagues set out to create the same intelligence infrastructure for healthcare that the gig economy had built for itself.Now, Axle Health has raised a million Series A led by F-Prime Capital, Business Insider has learned exclusively. Y Combinator, Pear VC, and Lightbank also participated in the round.Axle's software uses AI to handle some of the hardest problems in home healthcare: scheduling, routing, and patient engagement. Its logistics engine can coordinate care based on clinical eligibility, patient preferences, clinician license levels, and even cost, all in real time. Its customers now include large health systems, independent home health agencies, mobile phlebotomy providers, and high-acuity dispatch services.Axle Health originally set out to be a home health provider, powered by its proprietary technology. The company joined Y Combinator's Winter"We realized it's better for us — and better for the industry — if instead of keeping the technology for ourselves, we built tools to empower every home health provider," Stansell said.Axle Health announced it had raised million in funding in February 2024, which Stansell said included seed funding from 2021 and additional funding Axle raised after the business pivoted. In the past year, Stansell said Axle Health has grown its revenue tenfold.The home health market is growing fast, accelerated by an aging population, clinician shortages, and rising consumer demand for in-home care. Other startups are racing to meet that demand, including by forging ahead with the tech-enabled services model that Axle shelved, like Sprinter Health, which recently landed a million Series B led by General Catalyst to provide at-home preventive care. Later-stage players, acute-care home health provider DispatchHealth and home care tech company Medically Home, merged in March.Axle wants to differentiate itself both by plugging its tech into the existing home health ecosystem and by building technology that clinicians actually want to use, said Stansell. Axle's AI generates logistics plans that clinicians trust, which is an especially difficult bar to clear. And Axle's team, Stansell said, with its several ex-Uber leads, is a key ingredient in the startup's secret sauce.Next up, Axle plans to improve its patient engagement capabilities, including rolling out AI-powered voice call features for patients. It's also expanding its integrations with electronic medical record systems and forming more direct connections with other companies contributing to home health operations, like medical equipment suppliers and pharmacies."You're not going to have one provider that's going to solve the whole thing," Stansell said. "You need an ecosystem."Here's the 18-slide pitch deck Axle Health used to raise its million Series A. Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Health Axle Healt Axle Health Axle Health #check #out #exclusive #18slide #pitch

May 21, 20255 min readThe Very Real Health Implications of Medicaid Cuts for Older PeopleFor people aged 65 and older, Medicaid can provide vital health care—and losing coverage makes people sickerBy Jane Tavares, Marc Cohen & The Conversation US Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for more than 82 million Americans. FatCamera/Getty ImagesThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Republicans in Congress intend to cut about USbillion in federal health care spending.One of their primary targets is Medicaid. That government program covers 82 million Americans with health insurance. Most of the people enrolled in the program are low income, have disabilities, or both.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.Medicaid, jointly funded by the federal government and the states, is also the biggest funder in the U.S.of long-term care services, whether they are delivered in the patient’s home, another location where they spend part of their day or a nursing home. That makes it particularly important for older adults and those with disabilities. All states must meet the basic federal guidelinesfor Medicaid coverage. But 41 states have optedto take advantage of the Affordable Care Act provision that expanded eligibility to cover more people under the program.We are gerontology researcherswho study health and financial well-being in later life. We’ve been analyzing what the potential impacts of Medicaid cuts might be.While the debate about how to reduce the budget focuses largely on dollars and cents, we believe that cutting federal spending on Medicaid would harm the health and well-being of millions of Americans by reducing their access to care. In our view, it’s also likely that any savings achieved in the short term would be smaller than the long-term increase in health care costs born by the federal government, the states and patients – including for many Americans who are 65 and older.Weak track recordWary of backlash from their constituents, Republicans have agreed on a strategy that would largely cut Medicaid spending in a roundabout way.Previous efforts by the GOP in some states, such as imposing work requirements for some people to get Medicaid benefits, have not greatly reduced costs. That’s largely because there are relatively few people enrolled in the Medicaid program who are physically able to be employed and aren’t already in the workforce. Nor have past efforts to reduce fraud, waste and abuse led to significant savings.According to widespread media reports, Republicans are considering changes that would cut the amount of money that the federal government reimburses states for what they spend on Medicaid.In May 2025, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 8.6 million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage should the GOP proposal become law.Historically, states have dealt with budget cuts by reducing their payments to health care providers, limiting eligibility or restricting benefits. These reductions all particularly affected home- and community-based services that many disabled and older adults rely on.About 3 in 4 of the people with Medicaid coverage who receive long-term care through the program get that care at home, in their communities or both, rather than residing in a nursing home. States save an estimated 26 cents for every dollar spent on those services delivered outside nursing homes.Losing coverage can be harmful for your healthWe recently analyzed data from a nationally representative study of approximately 6,000 people who had Medicaid coverage but lost it when they turned age 65 because their income exceeded 100% of the federal poverty level. In 2025, that cutoff is about for a single person and for a couple.Medicaid income eligibility generally drops from 138% to 100% of the federal poverty level at age 65 once Medicare becomes a person’s primary health insurer.The people who participated in the study had lost their Medicaid coverage upon turning 65 between 1998 and 2020. Our team followed the experiences of these participants over a 10-year period starting at age 65 to see how they fared compared with people who continue to be enrolled in Medicaid after their 65th birthday.What we found was both surprising and disturbing.Fewer activities of daily livingOver the decade following that milestone, the people who lost their Medicaid coverage had more chronic conditions and could perform fewer activities of daily living, such as bathing and getting dressed, without any assistance as compared with those who still had Medicaid coverage. In addition, they were twice as likely to experience depression and be in fair or poor health.As people’s health worsened, they also went to the hospital more often and stayed there longer. They also used outpatient surgery services more frequently.These services are particularly expensive for the health care system. Depending on the service, it may also be costly for patients. Unlike the comprehensive coverage of Medicaid, the Medicare program fully covers only inpatient hospitalizations, short-term nursing facility care, hospice, some short-term home care, annual wellness visits, vaccines and some basic preventive care. Beyond that, Medicare requires the payment of premiums to help with uncovered services that can also include deductibles and copays.This arrangement can lead to significant out-of-pocket costs that make health care hard for low-income older adults to afford unless they have both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.We also found that older people who lost Medicaid coverage were less likely to see their primary care physician for routine and follow-up care, despite being enrolled in Medicare. This explains in part why they are going to the hospital more often, likely avoiding routine health care that may incur out-of-pocket costs and eventually utilizing Medicare-covered hospital care when needed.In short, we found that exiting the Medicaid program upon turning 65 actually leads to an increase in the use of some of the most expensive health care services, such as inpatient hospitalization and outpatient surgery. So although Medicaid may no longer pay for these costs, the rest of the health care system does.Just under 90% of older adults enrolled in Medicare have some kind of supplemental coverage that helps them pay for services that the program doesn’t cover. For 16% of the people with Medicare coverage, Medicaid covers those additional health care costs. The rest of that nearly 90% obtain supplemental coverage from private insurance companies or are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan that’s run by a private company instead of the government.However, 11% of Americans covered by Medicare don’t have any additional coverage. It is likely that those who lost Medicaid benefits at age 65 may not be able to afford any other supplemental coverage options and fall into this group.People who lose Medicaid coverage may die soonerOne of our more troubling findings was that people who lost Medicaid coverage at age 65 were 14% more likely to die within the next 10 years than were those who kept their coverage in addition to gaining Medicare coverage. This was true even though the people who lost their Medicaid access tended to start out in better health.Roughly 12 million Americans are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid today. Much is at stake for them and other low-income people as Congress considers making major changes to the program to cut federal spending on it.For some Americans, it’s a matter of life and death. For others, it’s a matter of healthy versus unhealthy aging that leads to costlier health care not just for themselves but for the U.S. as a whole.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. #medicaid #cuts #will #make #older

May 20, 20254 min readLarger, More Dangerous Hail Is Becoming More Common—Here’s WhyThe largest hail tends to form in “supercell” thunderstorms and seems to be becoming more common as climate change continuesBy Brian Tang & The Conversation US ljphoto7/Getty ImagesThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Hail the size of grapefruit shattered car windows in Johnson City, Texas. In June, 2024, a storm chaser found a hailstone almost as big as a pineapple. Even larger hailstones have been documented in South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska. Hail has damaged airplanes and even crashed through the roofs of houses.How do hailstones get so large, and are hailstorms getting worse?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.As an atmospheric scientist, I study and teach about extreme weather and its risks. Here’s how hail forms, how hailstorms may be changing, and some tips for staying safe.How does hail get so big?Hail begins as tiny crystals of ice that are swept into a thunderstorm’s updraft. As these ice embryos collide with supercooled water – liquid water that has a temperature below freezing – the water freezes around each embryo, causing the embryo to grow.Supercooled water freezes at different rates, depending on the temperature of the hailstone surface, leaving layers of clear or cloudy ice as the hailstone moves around inside a thunderstorm. If you cut open a large hailstone, you can see those layers, similar to tree rings.The path a hailstone takes through a thunderstorm cloud, and the time it spends collecting supercooled water, dictates how large it can grow.Rotating, long-lived, severe thunderstorms called supercells tend to produce the largest hail. In supercells, hailstones can be suspended for 10-15 minutes or more in strong thunderstorm updrafts, where there is ample supercooled water, before falling out of the storm due to their weight or moving out of the updraft.Hail is most common during spring and summer when a few key ingredients are present: warm, humid air near the surface; an unstable air mass in the middle troposphere; winds strongly changing with height; and thunderstorms triggered by a weather system.Larger hail, more damageHailstorms can be destructive, particularly for farms, where barrages of even small hail can beat down crops and damage fruit.As hailstones get larger, their energy and force when they strike objects increases dramatically. Baseball-sized hail falling from the sky has as much kinetic energy as a typical major league fastball. As a result, property damage – such as to roofs, siding, windows and cars – increases as hail gets larger than the size of a quarter.A hailstorm in Guadalajara, Mexico, in June 2019 filled streets with hail a few feet deep in places, damaging businesses and vehicles.Ulised Ruiz/AFP via Getty ImagesInsured losses from severe weather, which are dominated by hail damage, have increased substantially over the past few decades. These increases have been driven mostly by growing populations in hail-prone areas, resulting in more property that can be damaged and the increasing costs to repair or replace property damaged by hail.Is climate change worsening hailstorms?A lot of people ask whether the rise in hail damage is tied to climate change.My colleagues and I analyzed four decades of hail environments and found that the atmospheric ingredients to produce very large hail – larger than golf balls – have become more common in parts of the central and eastern U.S. since 1979. Other studies that considered formation factors of hail-producing storms or looked at radar estimates of hail have found limited increases in large hail, predominately over the northern Plains.There are a couple of primary hypotheses as to why climate change may be making some key ingredients for large hail more common.First, there has been an increase in warm, humid air as the Earth warms. This supplies more energy to thunderstorms and makes supercooled water more plentiful in thunderstorms for hail to grow.Second, there have been more unstable air masses, originating over the higher terrain of western North America, that then move eastward. As snowpack disappears earlier in the year, these unstable air masses are more apt to form as the Sun heats up the land faster, similar to turning up a kitchen stove, which then heats up the atmosphere above.Climate change may also lead to less small hail and more large hail. As the atmosphere warms, the freezing level moves up higher in the atmosphere. Small hail would be able to melt completely before reaching the ground. Larger hail, on the other hand, falls faster and requires more time to melt, so it would be less affected by higher freezing levels.Additionally, the combination of more favorable ingredients for large hail and changes in the character of hailstorms themselves might lead to an increase in very large hail in the future.How to stay safe in a hailstormBeing caught in a severe thunderstorm with large hail falling all around you can be frightening. Here are some safety tips if you ever wind up in such a situation:If you’re driving, pull over safely. Stay in the vehicle. If you spot a garage or gas station awning that you can seek shelter under, drive to it.If you’re outside, seek a sturdy shelter such as a building. If you’re caught out in the open, protect your head.If you’re inside, stay away from windows and remain inside until the hail stops.Dealing with the aftermath of hail damage can also be stressful, so taking some steps now can avoid headaches later. Know what your homeowners and car insurance policies cover. Be aware of roof replacement scams from people after a hailstorm. Also, think preventively by choosing building materials that can better withstand hail damage in the first place.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. #larger #more #dangerous #hail #becoming

Nature, Published online: 19 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01537-7Model could be used by hospitals to target those in need of preventive measures. #tool #flags #people #high #risk

In 2025, no brand, regardless of its heritage or customer loyalty, is immune to cyber threats. This April, we saw a very public example of that when Marks & Spencer—one of Britain's most beloved high street retailers—fell victim to a series of cyberattacks. This wasn't just a shocking example of large-scale criminal activity. It was also a stark reminder of how quickly a brand's reputation can be placed in jeopardy. Three weeks after the attack, the retailer continues to grapple with its aftermath, with online orders still suspended and customer data compromised. So, what lessons does this offer to legacy brands navigating an increasingly treacherous digital landscape? We asked leaders from the creative industry for their thoughts. What happened? First, though, let's remind ourselves what actually happened. The trouble began over the Easter weekend when M&S experienced difficulties with contactless payments and click-and-collect orders. By 23 April, CEO Stuart Machin confirmed the company was dealing with a cyber incident, and two days later, M&S suspended all orders through its website. The attack has since been attributed to 'Scattered Spider', a splinter group of the hacking collective Lapsuswhich has previously targeted high-profile organisations, including Transport for London and MGM Resorts. The sophistication of the attack has left M&S struggling to restore normal operations even weeks later. Last Tuesday, the situation worsened when M&S revealed that personal customer data had been stolen in the breach. The compromised information could include telephone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth and online order histories. While the retailer emphasised that no usable payment details or account passwords were taken, the incident has raised serious concerns about identity fraud for its customers. The financial impact has also been substantial, with analysis from Bank of America Global Research estimating that the retailer is losing approximately £43 million per week in sales. Moreover, M&S is reportedly preparing to make a cyber insurance claim that could total as much as £100 million. How has it damaged the brand? For a legacy retailer like M&S, though, the impact extends far beyond immediate losses. The sustained disruption has placed significant strain on customer loyalty and trust, two cornerstones of its long-established brand identity. salarko - stock.adobe.com With an estimated 9.4 million active online customers affected, the scale of the reputational damage is immense. The company's inability to process online orders for weeks has not only frustrated customers but also raised questions about its digital preparedness. "This should act as a stark reminder for other brands of the importance of building brand resilience," says Dave Mayer, senior partner for marketing and customer strategy at Lippincott. "While hacks are more frequent than ever, this sustained attack and suspension of online ordering has placed a significant strain on customer loyalty for the brand." The importance of brand equity in a crisis At the same time, there is some good news for the retailer. "Our research tells us that M&S is a 'comfort' brand, a brand loved by its customers," Dave points out. "And comfort brands are usually forgiven when things go wrong." Here's where the importance of brand equity comes in. "For M&S, the ability to bounce back from crises like these hasn't been built overnight," Dave notes. "It comes from the consistent implementation of long-term brand-building techniques to boost affinity, trust and loyalty with their customers. Coupled with open and honest communication, M&S has chartered these turbulent waters with success thus far." Sue Benson, founder and CEO of The Behaviours Agency, agrees that M&S appears to be weathering the storm better than many would expect. "The attack has undoubtedly caused disruption and impacted sales, but brand trust has remained remarkably stable," she explains. "This resilience speaks to M&S's legacy and long-standing reputation, which appear to have shielded it from long-term damage. "From a behavioural science perspective, the principle of reciprocity is key: M&S's history of delivering customer satisfaction is now being repaid with trust and loyalty. Lesser-known brands may not have been shown the same grace." Crisis management: communication as a key tool That doesn't mean, of course, that things aren't extremely challenging for M&S right now. "In these moments, brand management must shift gears rapidly," says Lewis Jones, managing partner at Coley Porter Bell. "Transparency becomes a brand's most powerful tool. The design and delivery of information, rooted in the clear expression of a brand's values, is vital." He stresses that the message itself and the way information is delivered are critical. "If a crisis hub is hard to find, visually inconsistent, the tone of voice is unsympathetic and off-brand, or updates are buried in poorly structured pages, the brand's reliability erodes further. Strong brand design can bring order to chaos, signpost clarity, reinforce identity, offer reassurance in a moment of doubt, and maintain consumer confidence." chrisdorney - stock.adobe.com In short, this is no time to innovate or start changing the brand's story. As Charlotte Black, chief strategy officer at Saffron Brand Consultants, says: "What's critical is returning to the original commitments brands have made to customers and delivering communications in that same style. A crisis is no time to deviate." So far, it seems that M&S has been following such advice, with CEO Stuart Machin personally communicating with customers about the breach. In his statement, he acknowledged that "unfortunately, some personal customer information has been taken" while reassuring customers that there was "no evidence that the information has been shared". The company has also taken proactive steps by emailing all website users, prompting customers to reset account passwords "for extra peace of mind," and reporting the case to relevant authorities. This approach aligns with what Charlotte describes as "staying true to its distinctive brand voice, with a flexible tone that effectively matches the circumstance." Learning from past examples Of course, M&S isn't the first brand to fall victim to criminal actions, and there are valuable lessons to be drawn from previous incidents. Sue points, for example, to British Airways' response to its 2018 data breach as an example of how to do things right. "Full-page apologies leaned on transparency and the honesty bias, reducing uncertainty and reinforcing sincerity," she recalls. "BA also tackled loss aversion by reassuring customers and outlining preventive measures, something M&S would do well to follow." As M&S works to restore its systems and services, the focus will ultimately shift from crisis management to rebuilding customer confidence. Dave recommends that "beyond better cybersecurity, M&S will benefit from continuing its communication with its shoppers and working to rebuild the goodwill it's just drawn down, with a thank-you to current and recently lapsed shoppers." Five key lessons Here are five essential lessons for legacy brands facing similar crises. 1. Invest in brand resilience before crisis strikes: As Lewis puts it, "Trust isn't built in a single moment. It's the result of years of consistent investment in the brand and the development of well-managed brand systems across the entire business." 2. Maintain authentic communication: Charlotte emphasises that brands must communicate in line with their established values and voice. "Defining and living up to brand values and having a clear voice with an adaptable tone is how brands weather these sorts of storms," she reasons. 3. Deploy transparency as a strategic tool: Lewis highlights how the delivery of information in a crisis is critical: "This is where brand values, expression, and UX come into their own." So, clear, accessible, and empathetic communication about what happened, what the company is doing about it, and how customers might be affected is essential. 4. Acknowledge the impact on customers: It's crucial to recognise and address customer frustrations directly. Sue notes how "with online sales still paused after 17 days, customer frustration is rising. M&S must not rest on its laurels". 5. Use crisis as a catalyst for improvement: Dave suggests that recovery should include not just fixing the immediate problem but strengthening the brand's overall value proposition. For M&S, this means considering "new ways to not only be loved but also provide products and services that shoppers can't get anywhere else". Conclusion The M&S cyberattack serves as a powerful case study of how legacy brands can leverage their heritage and customer loyalty during times of crisis. While the incident has undoubtedly damaged the retailer financially and operationally, the brand's deep reserves of trust have provided a cushion that many newer companies would not enjoy. As Charlotte puts it: "This is when 'brand' becomes a real asset. If a business has the right foundational tools in place, it has the guidance it needs to navigate both good times and bad." The lesson is clear: brand building is not just about driving sales during good times; it's about creating resilience for the inevitable storms. The true test of a legacy brand is not whether it can avoid crises altogether but how effectively it can deploy its accumulated trust and goodwill when disaster strikes. In a world where cyber threats continue to evolve in sophistication, this resilience is not merely advantageous; it's essential. The M&S case demonstrates that while no brand is impervious to attack, those with strong foundations can emerge from even the most significant challenges with their core identity intact. #lessons #cyberattack #how #brands #can