Planes are not designed to bump into things ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
March 23, 2026—Another "shadow" health agency emerges. Plus, jellyfish sleep like us, and more details about the plane crash at LaGuardia airport. —Andrea Gawrylewski
Chief Newsletter Editor | | Spencer Platt/Getty Images | | - Part of what made the collision so destructive between an Air Canada plane and a fuel truck at LaGuardia airport last night may have to do with how commercial jets are designed. | 3 min read
- Earth's climate is wildly out of balance, and there is no precedent in recorded history for what is happening now on our planet. That's the conclusion of the World Meteorological Organization's annual report. | 2 min read
- Health authorities are scrambling to contain a bacterial meningitis outbreak in the U.K. Routine vaccination in high-risk groups is key to preventing such dangerous transmission in the first place. | 5 min read
- A cybercrime campaign called GlassWorm is hiding malware in invisible characters and spreading it through software that millions of developers rely on. | 3 min read
- Stress can fuel eczema flare-ups. Researchers identified a network of neurons that respond to stress and activate immune cells in the skin. | 2 min read
- The brain's protective shield known as the blood-brain barrier can be damaged and stay leaky for decades after an athlete retires from contact sports. | 3 min read
- Drought can have drastic effects on the microscopic world—promoting dangerous antibiotic resistance in bacteria. | 2 min read
- Join the discussion: In the science-fiction film Project Hail Mary the main character goes to space in a state of suspended animation. Would you be willing to go into a coma for a long-duration spaceflight if it meant you might get to visit another planet? Let us know by reading the article, scrolling down and clicking "Join the discussion."
| | Last Thursday, a "shadow committee" of autism researchers and science advocates met for the first time in Washington, DC. The group formed after Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., overhauled the federal government's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which provides guidance on autism research. Several of Kennedy's 21 new appointees to the federal committee have promoted a disproved connection between vaccines and autism and non-evidence-based and potentially dangerous therapies for the condition. Why this is interesting: In the last year, similar "shadow groups" have popped up to bolster public health in light of drastic changes to the CDC. Dozens of routinely-updated CDC health databases have paused or gone dark since the beginning of 2026. In response, independent groups and local and state health agencies scrambled to fill in the gaps and provide useful health information to the public. For example, more than a dozen medical societies endorsed a new childhood vaccine schedule released by the American Academy of Pediatrics at the end of January after the CDC scaled back its recommended childhood vaccine schedule. The independent autism group plans to review autism science and recommend research priorities to improve the lives of autistic people.
What the experts say: The federal autism committee now has a "striking absence of scientific expertise," said Craig Snyder, policy lead at the Autism Science Foundation, during the rival group's meeting on Thursday. "It disproportionately represents the small subset of families who believe, contrary to scientific consensus, that vaccines cause autism while excluding the overwhelming majority of autistic individuals, families and advocates who support evidence-based science."
| | Jellyfish like this one have neurons across their bodies that let them enter a sleeplike state. Humberto Ramirez/Getty Images | | All animals with a nervous system sleep, even jellyfish, which don't have brains. Why is this trait common across so many species? Researchers observed the natural sleep behaviors of jellyfish and sea anemones and then put them through periods of sleep deprivation. They found that sleep deprivation led to an accumulation of damage to the animals' DNA. After sleeping again, their DNA was repaired. How it works: Sleep provides a "window" of downtime for the body to do a little self-care, helping to repair DNA damage and maintain its neuronal health. These animals' sleep patterns are surprisingly similar to humans'—both species spend approximately one-third of their lives sleeping. This suggests that humanlike sleep might have evolved before even the most primitive brains. What the experts say: Whether you're a human or a jellyfish, it looks like sleep is an important part of staying healthy. "This confirms that sleep allows a window for key housekeeping tasks," says Philippe Mourrain, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University who studies sleep and was not involved in the new study. | | | | |
Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt | | - This illusion, which was recently published in the journal Perception, contains nine purple dots against a blue background. When those of us with full color vision focus on one dot, it appears more purple while the rest seem to shift to blue. Why does this happen? Two quirks of human eye anatomy are behind it. Read more here.
| | - After the eruption of Mount St. Helens, scientists released a few gophers, hoping the animals would help regenerate the soil. Forty years later, the plan is working. | Popular Mechanics
- A decade ago vertical farms promised to revolutionize sustainable urban produce. The movement has decidedly withered. | The New York Times
- DOGE is rewriting the rules to ease the development of nuclear power plants. | ProPublica
| | Fun optical illusions like the purple dots above seem like magic, but they're usually about physical conditions and anatomy. Remember the dress debate of 2015? Some people (like me) saw the dress as white and gold, while others fervently claimed they saw a blue and black dress. It turns out ambient levels of light and the number of color-perceiving cone cells in our retinas can alter the colors and hues perceived by our brains. If even things like color are not as objective as we thought, the world may exist in as many different iterations as there are eyes to observe it. | | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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