Category: Technology

There are some encouraging signs that California’s summer COVID wave might be leveling off. That’s not to say the seasonal spike is in the rearview mirror just yet, however. Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater remain “very high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they are in much of the country. […]

The Eaton fire left significant levels of lead in Altadena’s soil, according to a final report from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hauled away debris and soil from destroyed properties, but that did not completely remove the contamination, the report, released Friday, found. People whose homes […]

California’s late summer COVID surge is showing signs of peaking, but the state’s war with the Trump administration over vaccines is just beginning. Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater remain “very high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they are in much of the country. But some other COVID-19 indicators are […]

Blanca Lucio likes to spend her mornings tending to her zucchinis, cucumbers, watermelons and traditional Mexican herbs at a small community garden near downtown Los Angeles. With its cool, damp air, the garden brims with what Lucio calls “magic.” The only sound comes from green June bugs buzzing by her ears and children playing at […]

I can’t say I was surprised, but it didn’t take long for readers to jump at the bait last week when I wrote that for the first time, I had tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been regularly vaccinated throughout the pandemic. “Vaccines are poison,” wrote one reader, who said I’d fallen for a hoax. […]

Weeks after a Rancho Santa Margarita family sued over ChatGPT’s role in their teenager’s death, OpenAI has announced that parental controls are coming to the company’s generative artificial intelligence model. Within the month, the company said in a recent blog post, parents will be able to link teens’ accounts to their own, disable features like […]

As awareness grows around the dangers of head trauma in sports, a small number of professional fighters and football players are turning to a psychedelic called ibogaine for treatment. Ibogaine, which is derived from a West African shrub, is a Schedule 1 drug in America with no legal medical uses, and experts urge caution because […]

A school-age child in Los Angeles County has died from a rare complication of measles after contracting the disease in infancy, the county public health department announced Thursday. The child — who was not old enough to be vaccinated at the time of infection — died from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a fatal progressive brain disorder […]

On the night TJ McGee overdosed from a mixture of drugs and alcohol in his freshman year at UC Berkeley, his friends found him passed out in the hallway by their shared dorm room. The roommates tried to help, but when McGee stopped breathing, they called 911. McGee survived and, racked with guilt over what […]

The U.S. Forest Service has announced it is reversing a ban on federal firefighters wearing masks, and will give crews protective N95s as they battle increasingly intense fires across the nation. For decades, the agency argued their use made firefighters vulnerable to heat exhaustion. Other wildfire-prone nations, such as Canada, Greece and Australia, provide their […]

A series of federal actions aimed at pressuring states to allow parents to opt out of school vaccine mandates for religious or personal reasons threatens to undermine California’s ironclad ban on such exemptions. California is one of just five states that bans any non-medical exemptions, the result of a landmark 2015 law passed in the […]

The Make America Healthy Again Commission, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has released its Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a 20-page report the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services described as a “sweeping plan” to “reverse the failed policies that fueled America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic.” In a meeting livestreamed Tuesday from […]

Some explorers have focused on alpine heights. Others on polar extremes. Megan McArthur is one of the elite few who can say she’s piloted both submarines and spacecraft, exploring expanses from the ocean floor to low Earth orbit, looking down on the planet from 250 miles above. Now McArthur, 54, is retiring from NASA, where […]

In 2003, the Nobel Prize winner David Baltimore, then president of Caltech, paused to reflect on his role as one of the world’s most decorated scientists. “People keep e-mailing me to ask, ‘What is the meaning of life?’” Baltimore told an interviewer, with amusement. “And they want me to e-mail them back quickly with an […]

I lost me. You lost yourself? Yeah. Where did you go? I don’t know. I don’t have a sense of who I am. Marc Pierrat’s mind once ran as smoothly as the gears on his endurance bike. He was a mechanical engineer by training and a marathoner for fun, a guy who maintained complicated systems […]

Seniors in some parts of the country say they are being denied COVID-19 vaccinations amid an ongoing spike in cases, leading to rising frustration over new Trump administration policies that are making it harder to get the shots. Matthew D’Amico, 67, of New York City, said a Walgreens declined to administer COVID-19 vaccines to him […]

Like a lot of people my age, there are times when I can’t find my keys, or my sunglasses, or my phone. Now and again, I’ll get an idea to look something up, reach for my computer, and forget what it was. Normal aging? Signs of cognitive impairment? I’m not sure, but if you have […]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s Health secretary and a longtime vaccine skeptic, struck a defiant tone Thursday as he faced bipartisan criticism over changes he has made to reorganize federal health agencies and vaccine policies, telling senators that he is determined to “eliminate politics from science.” In the testy appearance before the Senate Finance […]

This is the story of two Republican doctor-senators named Bill. One of them, as majority leader from 2003 to 2007, helped a self-described “compassionate conservative” Republican president pass a Medicare prescription drug plan and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), “the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history.” […]

SACRAMENTO — With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in turmoil as vaccine skeptics gain influence in the Trump administration, California is partnering with Washington and Oregon to form a pact that will offer its own public health recommendations. Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Bob Ferguson of Washington announced Wednesday […]

A COVID wave is washing over California, with the state seeing continued increases in the number of newly confirmed cases and hospitalizations as some officials urged the public to take greater precautions. The extent of the recent increases has prompted some county-level health officials to recommend that residents once again consider wearing masks in indoor […]

For five years, I dodged every bullet. I don’t know how I managed to beat COVID-19 for so long, even as family, friends and colleagues got hit with the coronavirus. Although I took precautions from the beginning, with masking and vaccinations, I was also out in public a lot for work and travel. But my […]

It’s one of the most insidious diseases you’ve never heard of, but Chagas is here in California and 29 other states across the U.S. It kills more people in Latin America than malaria each year, and researchers think roughly 300,000 people in the U.S. currently have it but are unaware. That’s because the illness tends […]

The body of a woman was found by Pasadena firefighters responding to a house fire Saturday morning, officials said. Firefighters responded at 6:25 a.m. to a house engulfed in flames in the 1500 block of Lancashire Place, said Lisa Derderian, a spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena. They found the body inside as they battled […]

Large, brown cage-free eggs from a small egg farm in San Bernardino County are at the center of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened scores of people across dozens of states, public health officials said Thursday. Country Eggs LLC of Lucerne Valley is being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration in collaboration with the […]

For anyone wondering whether intense dust storms, such as the haboob that enveloped Phoenix this week, are possible in Southern California, the answer is yes. They’ve hit in the recent past and are a growing issue over much of Southern California and the Central Valley, thanks to the drying associated with climate change, water overuse, […]

New federal guidance surrounding COVID vaccine authorization could make it more difficult for many people to be inoculated against the circulating — and, now, seasonally spiking — coronavirus. Under the approval for the updated COVID-19 vaccines that was issued Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration, adults younger than 65 who are otherwise healthy would […]

Less than eight months after the Eaton and Palisades wildfires destroyed 16,000 buildings in Los Angeles County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday announced it was preparing to clear wreckage from the final residential parcel that opted into the federal cleanup. At a news conference in Pacific Palisades, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D–Sherman […]

Lodi — A battle has been waging in Sacramento over whether beverage cartons — the ones used for milk, juice, broth, wine, even egg whites — should get the coveted chasing arrows recycling label. Earlier this year, the state agency in charge of recycling, CalRecycle, determined the cartons were probably not eligible, because they weren’t being sorted […]

Large methane leaks at oil and gas facilities across the United States not only unleash massive plumes of the potent greenhouse gas, but are also carry a toxic mix of air pollutants that jeopardize the health of communities nearby, according to new research. Over the course of 20 years, methane is capable of warming the […]

Iretha Warmsley was born and raised in South L.A.’s Black community, and for as long as she can remember, air pollution from oil and gas has been both a fact of daily life and a harbinger of death and disease. “My father died of cancer. My uncles died of cancer. My grandfather — most of […]

Across Southern California, emergency room workers are primed for the wave of patients that pour in as heat waves like the current one drag into their second, third and fourth days. Heat takes an accumulating toll on the body, especially when people cannot cool down at night with air conditioning. Dr. Jennifer Roh, medical director […]

The plague — aka the Black Death, aka the Great Pestilence — is rarely contracted today, yet it recently infected a South Lake Tahoe resident. But before you put on your 17th century “air-purifying” beaked mask, let’s find out from the experts why this disease is still around and how dangerous it is now. Most […]

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court said Thursday the Trump administration may cancel hundreds of health research grants that involve diversity, equity and inclusion or gender identity. The justices granted an emergency appeal from President Trump’s lawyers and set aside a Boston’s judge order that blocked the canceling of $783 million in research grants. The justices split […]

An herbal supplement that’s marketed as a cure-all for chronic pain and sold in gas stations and smoke shops is getting banned in communities across Southern California and the nation. Kratom is derived from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast Asia, and is commonly extracted into a powder or pill. Researchers […]

From President Trump’s first day back in office, he vowed to unravel California’s sway over the nation’s auto-emission standards by eliminating the state’s zero-emission mandates. He made good on that promise in the first several months of his second term. After a series of controversial congressional votes in May, Trump signed legislation that effectively nullified […]

A South Lake Tahoe resident has tested positive for the plague — yes, the same pest-transmitted disease estimated to have killed 25 million Europeans in the Middle Ages. It is believed that the person contracted the rare and dangerous disease after being bitten by an infected flea while camping in the South Lake Tahoe area, […]

On July 10, a church signed the deeds transferring a half-acre of land hosting a community center in the heart of San Gabriel — less than a mile down the road from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel — to an Indigenous tribe’s nonprofit. On paper, it was a relatively ordinary transaction (except maybe for the […]

Any trip to the dark night skies of our Southern California deserts reveals a vista full of wonder and mystery — riddles that astrophysicists like myself spend our days unraveling. I am fortunate to study how the first galaxies formed and evolved over the vast span of 13 billion years into the beautiful structures that […]

COVID-19 rates in the Southwestern United States reached 12.5% — the highest in the nation — according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County recorded the highest COVID levels in its wastewater since February. The spike, thanks to the new highly contagious “Stratus” […]

Fraudulent scientific research is now being produced and published on a large scale, with some unethical researchers colluding with unethical editors to attain the prestige that comes with publication, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Large groups of editors and authors appear to have cooperated in what […]

There are a lot of reasons why people reach out to Teen Line, a Century City-based hotline that connects young people in crisis to trained teenage volunteers. They call because someone is hurting them or they are afraid of hurting themselves. They text because an important relationship has ended or a troubling conflict has started. […]

The latest California numbers suggest 2025 will be another record-smashing year for valley fever, the illness linked to drought and precipitation and spread by fungal spores. There were 6,761 cases reported through the end of July, according to state health officials — a significant increase over the 10-year average of 3,833 for that same time […]

As California turns to satellite imagery, remote cameras watched by AI and heat detection sensors placed throughout wildlands to detect fires earlier, one Orange County group is keeping it old-school. Whenever the National Weather Service issues a red flag warning, a sign that dangerous fire weather is imminent, Renalynn Funtanilla swiftly sends alerts to her […]

After January’s wildfires reduced thousands of homes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades to heaps of ash and rubble, wildfire survivors hoped federal disaster workers would give them a fresh start on a rebuild-ready lot. But many residents say that has not been the reality. More than 800 complaints were submitted to a U.S. Army Corps […]

It doesn’t take an awful lot of investigating to see that we’re swimming in an ocean of waste: There are the maxed-out landfills, illegal trash dumping in the desert, choked-up rivers, strangled sea turtles and skyrocketing trash collection fees. But there’s disagreement about what it portends about our future relationship with waste. Los Angeles knows […]

Figuring out what should go into your curbside waste bins is hardly straightforward. Consider your single-use coffee cup — the one holding the latte you’re going to drink as you drive to work. It’s paper, right? So it can be recycled? Los Angeles knows how to weather a crisis — or two or three. Angelenos […]

In a first, researchers have identified the nation’s roughly 8,700 cattle feeding operations, and the map shows California has more of them than any other state. California also has the most feedlot acreage: over 85,000 acres, or 130 square miles, the majority of it for dairy cows. Tulare County has more than any county in […]

Their medical research focuses on potentially lifesaving breakthroughs in cancer treatment, and developing tools to more easily diagnose debilitating diseases. Their studies in mathematics could make online systems more robust and secure. But as the academic year opens, the work of UCLA’s professors in these and many other fields has been imperiled by the Trump […]

It’s a number thousands of Palisades and Eaton fire survivors have come to depend on: 80 milligrams of lead in each kilogram of soil. Below this concentration, California has historically deemed yards safe enough for families to rebuild and move home after a fire. Any more, state scientists say, comes with a notable risk of […]

When is AI not artificial intelligence? When it refers to ammonia inhalants, aka smelling salts. When are these AIs in the news? When it was reported that the NFL banned their use, San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle protested, and the NFL walked back the ban a day later. The league’s players association clarified that […]

State lawmakers are considering a bill meant to protect access to HIV prevention drugs for insured Californians as threats from the federal government continue. Assembly Bill 554 would require health plans and insurers to cover all antiretroviral drugs used for PrEP and PEP regimens. The drugs just have to be approved by the Food and […]

By all accounts, the January firestorms that decimated thousands of homes and killed 31 people in Los Angeles County were the most devastating in the region’s history. But new research argues that the Eaton and Palisades fires may have been far more deadly than what’s reflected in coroner reports. A research letter published Wednesday in […]

Temperatures were fast approaching 116 degrees as Rubén Partida and his wife, Kimberly, loaded their dusty Nissan Frontier truck with two coolers of water and Gatorades blanketed in ice. As their neighbors prepared to shelter during the hottest part of the day on June 30, the Partidas began their outreach efforts to members of the […]

A study published Monday offers clarity on a more than decade-long marine mystery: What has been killing the velvety sunflower sea star? In 2013, something began ravaging sea stars along the West Coast, turning them into decaying, fragmented carcasses. Over the next few years, the wasting disease (SSWD) killed billions of animals along the shore, […]

The Gifford fire has scorched nearly 40,000 acres in less than three days in Los Padres National Forest as firefighters struggle to quell the blaze in the Sierra Madre mountains. Officials have reported three injuries, two of which were sustained by workers fighting the fire. Wildland firefighters were continuing to work to stop the blaze […]

A roughly 15-foot Great White shark was captured on video last week swimming close to Santa Monica’s shores, providing a rare glimpse of the fully grown apex predator idling in near-urban waters. Photographer Carlos Guana launched a drone Thursday about a mile north of the Santa Monica Pier after hearing reports that some Great White […]

Grammy award-winning pop star Justin Timberlake, 44, recently took to Instagram to share his diagnosis of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that he said was “relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.” His statement comes on the heels of criticism from fans who felt he was under-performing during his recent world tour. “When I first got […]

Despite California’s ban on foie gras, the pumped-up bird livers are being sold in Southern California stores. Foie gras, which is made by force-feeding ducks and geese, was spotted by Times journalists this week on the shelves of Wild Fork Foods stores in Venice, Manhattan Beach and Westlake Village. Ben Williamson, the executive director of […]

A few months ago, Northeastern University computer scientist Annika Schoene was playing around with ChatGPT when she found a troubling gap in its safeguards against harmful content. The usage policies of OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, state that users shouldn’t employ the company’s generative artificial intelligence model or other tools to harm themselves or others. In […]

Every fall, more than a million young Americans don helmets and padded shoulder pads to play high school football. But this year, questions are intensifying over the risk youth athletes face from repeated head injuries after a gunman who played football in Southern California claimed he suffered from a degenerative brain disease. After killing four […]

By almost any measure, living through a once-in-a-century pandemic emergency that killed 7 million people — including 1.1 million in the U.S. alone — was a harrowing experience. Now, there’s new evidence suggesting our brains bear the scars of that ordeal. Living through the pandemic aged our brains faster — even among people who never […]

Despite the dramatic reduction in L.A. drug overdose deaths in the last few years, there’s a fly in the ointment: With 1,894 drug-related deaths over the last decade, July was the decade’s single deadliest month for overdoses in L.A., according to the county health department. “It’s very likely that a good chunk of those deaths […]

When it comes to meteor showers, the Perseids pop. It’s not just about the quantity of meteors (as many as 100 per hour) and their showy quality (fireballs!) but also their superb timing. The annual shower hits its peak on warm, laid-back August nights as the Earth crosses paths with the dust cloud left by […]

The federal government has paid California dairy farms more than $230 million to subsidize losses in milk production resulting from bird flu, records show, an amount that the dairy industry expects to climb higher as more claims for damages are processed. The H5N1 bird flu has swept through more than 75% of California’s 1,000 dairy […]

Serious liver disease is becoming more common among Americans who drink heavily, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC. It’s not that more people are partying with alcohol. And it’s not that the drinkers are having more drinks. It’s that more of the people who drink regularly are becoming sick. Over the […]

Just before sunrise on Nov. 8, 2018, a power line fell from a wind-worn Pacific Gas & Electric transmission tower and whipped into the structure nestled in the Sierra foothills. An electric arc sent molten metal into the dry vegetation below. It ignited. Five minutes later, a PG&E employee spotted the fire while driving on […]

Los Angeles County’s health system, which is responsible for the care of the region’s poorest, is careening toward a financial crisis because of cuts from a presidential administration and Republican-led Congress looking to drastically slash the size of government. President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed earlier this month, is expected to soon claw $750 […]

Damage claims from the Eaton wildfire in Altadena could wipe out the $21-billion fund California created to shield utilities and their customers from the cost of wildfires sparked by electric lines, according to newly released state documents. Investigators are seeking to determine whether Southern California Edison’s equipment sparked the Jan. 7 inferno, which killed 19 […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is turning its attention to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a class of antidepressant drugs long criticized by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On Monday morning, the FDA hosted a 10-person expert panel on the use during pregnancy of SSRIs, which include medications like fluoxetine (Prozac), […]

Misty Williams checks into the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from time to time for treatment of debilitating pain from sickle cell disease, which causes red blood cells to stiffen and block the flow of blood. After pain medication and hydration are ordered, the 41-year-old Los Angeles resident makes an unusual request: access to […]

A group of university researchers at Northwestern — including a nursing mother — have come up with a way to ease one of the most anxiety-producing dilemmas of early breastfeeding: How much milk is the baby consuming? The new device — the result of a collaboration between pediatricians and engineers — is a small wireless […]

Earlier this week, President Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, or CVI, after he noted mild swelling in his lower legs. White House physician Dr. Sean P. Barbabella in a memo July 17 said the swelling prompted a full medical evaluation, including ultrasound tests and blood work. Those confirmed CVI, a condition the doctor […]

LOS ANGELES — Researchers have identified a gut-genetic interaction that could trigger an overactive immune response in the colon — offering one possible explanation for the pain and bleeding of ulcerative colitis, and why it behaves so differently from patient to patient. Their research is published Friday in the journal Science Immunology. Ulcerative colitis is a chronic […]

As authorities brace for a potential resurgence in bird flu cases this fall, infectious disease specialists warn that the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants could hamper efforts to stop the spread of disease. Dairy and poultry workers have been disproportionately infected with the H5N1 bird flu since it was first detected in U.S. dairy […]

Bridget McCarthy believes that if her son Riley Chart had quick and easy access to a suicide prevention hotline designed for queer young people, he might be alive today. Chart, a trans teen who had once endured bullying because he was different, took his own life at the family’s home during the COVID-19 lockdown in […]

Patrick Golling yanked the pull cord, and the Honda engine roared to life. Seconds after it began sucking water out of his father’s pool, a powerful stream erupted from an agricultural irrigation nozzle fixed atop a bright red pole a few feet away, connected with a fire hose. In a minute flat, the system meticulously […]

For years, science fiction has promised a future filled with robots that can swim, crawl and fly like animals. In one research lab at Caltech, what once felt like distant imagination is becoming reality. At first glance, they look like any other moon jellyfish — soft-bodied, translucent and ghostlike, as their bell-shaped bodies pulse gently […]

WASHINGTON  — Public health advocates won a big case in the Supreme Court on the last day of this year’s term, but the victory came with an asterisk. The decision ended one threat to the no-cost preventive services — from cancer and diabetes screenings to statin drugs and vaccines — used by more than 150 million […]

Redwood City — Fed up with the state’s refusal to enforce a law banning the sale of polystyrene foam cups, plates and bowls, a San Diego County resident has taken matters into his own hands. Jeffrey Heavey, a chef and owner of Convivial Catering, a San Diego-area catering service, is suing WinCup, an Atlanta-based foam foodware product […]

The Trump administration has sued California over the state’s voter-approved animal welfare law, which protects hens, pigs and calves from being kept in small cages, claiming the law has driven up egg prices and violates federal farming laws and regulations. “California has contributed to the historic rise in egg prices by imposing unnecessary red tape […]

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus caused life expectancy in California to drop significantly. It’s now been over two years since officials declared the pandemic-related public health emergency to be over. And yet, life expectancy for Californians has not fully recovered. Today, however, the virus has been replaced by drug overdoses and […]

Amy Kane was filled with dread when she heard that the national suicide prevention lifeline would stop offering specialized crisis intervention to young LGBTQ+ Americans and end its partnership with the West Hollywood-based Trevor Project. With the service set to end July 17, Kane, a therapist who identifies as lesbian, believes the Trump administration is […]

LOS ANGELES — You’ve probably heard the phrase: “Save the bees.” But new research suggests we may need to be more specific about which bees we’re saving. Europeans introduced western honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) to the Americas in the early 1600s. They play an essential role in pollinating crops and flowering plants, and are often hailed as […]

Over the last several months, a deep sense of unease has settled over laboratories across the United States. Researchers at every stage — from graduate students to senior faculty — have been forced to shelve experiments, rework career plans, and quietly warn each other not to count on long-term funding. Some are even considering leaving […]

They gather several times a week in the parking lot of a Vons supermarket in Mar Vista, and no subject is off-limits. Not even the grim medical prognosis for 70-year-old David Mays, one of the founding members of the coffee klatch. “It’s one of our major topics of conversation,” said Paul Morgan, 45, a klatch […]

Vernalis — Greg Pryor began composting yard and food waste for San Francisco in 1996, and today he oversees nine industrial-sized composting sites in California and Oregon that turn discarded banana peels, coffee grounds, chicken bones and more into a dark, nutrient-rich soil that farmers covet for their fields and crops. His company, Recology, processes organic waste […]

Weeks after President Trump took office, multiple government webpages referencing gender and sexual orientation abruptly disappeared from the internet. Many returned after a February court order. But they came with an unusual addition: a disclaimer from the Department of Health and Human Services denying facts provided by its own agencies. “Any information on this page […]

Federal contractors tasked with clearing ash and debris from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires improperly sent truckloads of asbestos-tainted waste to nonhazardous landfills, including one where workers were not wearing respiratory protection, according to state and local records. From Feb. 28 to March 24, federal cleanup crews gathered up wreckage from six burned-down homes as […]

As California’s fire season heats up, Gov. Gavin Newsom sharply criticized the Trump administration Tuesday for failing to devote adequate resources to wildfire preparation and response efforts on federal lands. Newsom said his office sent the White House a proposed executive order that, if signed, would direct the federal government to match California’s forest management […]

I watched my blood snake through the tube stuck into my arm as I sat under a canopy erected by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health at an Altadena church. Four months prior — almost to the hour — I stepped out of my car in Pacific Palisades to wailing sirens, raining ash […]

Attention would-be warbler watchers and pigeon peepers: Ornithologists at UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are recruiting volunteers for Project Phoenix, a multiyear citizen science initiative investigating birds’ response to wildfire. The team is seeking volunteers in California, Oregon and Washington to collect data from July through November, the duration of […]

When it comes to vaccines, virtually nothing that comes out of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mouth is true. The man in charge of the nation’s health and well being is impervious to science, expertise and knowledge. His brand of arrogance is not just dangerous, it is lethal. Undermining trust in vaccines, he will have the […]

Hims & Hers, the high-flying telehealth company that rapidly ascended from a buzzy startup selling Viagra to a multibillion-dollar business with a Super Bowl ad, had a hard week. The San Francisco company’s shares took a dive Monday after its partnership with Novo Nordisk crumbled. The Danish drugmaker abruptly ended its agreement to let Hims […]

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the preeminent center for pediatric medicine in Southern California. For three decades, it’s also been one of the world’s leading destinations for trans care for minors. Don’t take my word for it: CHLA boasts about its record of providing “high-quality, evidence-based, medically essential care for transgender and gender-diverse youth, young […]

The Trump administration has lifted a freeze on federal funds for HIV prevention and surveillance programs, officials said, following an outcry from HIV prevention organizations, health experts and Democrats in Congress. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health received notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday that it had […]

Malaysia will ban plastic waste imports from the U.S. starting Tuesday because of America’s failure to abide by the Basel Convention treaty on international waste transfers, in a move that could have significant consequences for California. Malaysia emerged as a major destination for U.S. waste after China banned American waste imports in 2018. California shipped […]

California has already reported more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, a worrisome development that comes as the nation is suffering its largest outbreak of the super-infectious disease in decades. The extent of the national outbreak has rocketed measles from a back-of-mind issue — one rarely, if ever, encountered by a whole […]

Odds are, something in your pantry is colored with petroleum. Synthetic dyes — which give fruit snacks their bright colors and cereals their rainbow crunch — are embedded into the everyday foods that fill grocery store shelves, often in ways consumers don’t realize. However, concern over their health effects has been growing in recent years, […]

The number of gray whales migrating along the California coast has plummeted again this year, dropping to levels not seen since the 1970s, according to federal officials. There are now likely fewer than 13,000 gray whales migrating along the North American Pacific coast — fewer than half the population’s 27,000 peak in 2016, according to […]

As a professor at UC Santa Barbara, I research the effects of and solutions to ocean pollution, including oil seeps, spills and offshore DDT. I began my career by investigating the interaction of bacteria and hydrocarbon gases in the ocean, looking at the unusual propensity of microbes to consume gases that bubbled in from beneath […]

Johnny had Ed. Conan had Andy. And Gov. Gavin Newsom? A single-use plastic water bottle. In most of the YouTube video recordings of Newsom’s new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” a single-use plastic water bottle lurks on a table nearby. Sometimes, it is accompanied by a single-use coffee cup. Other times, it stands alone. Typically, […]

Missed childhood vaccinations. Skipped blood sugar checks. Medications abandoned at the pharmacy. These are among the healthcare disruptions providers have noticed since Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations began in Southern California earlier this month. Across the region, once-busy parks, shops and businesses have emptied as undocumented residents and their families hole up at home in […]

The union representing workers at a UC Davis lab that tests and tracks bird flu infections in livestock has sued the university, demanding that records showing staffing levels and other information about the lab’s operations be released to the public. Workers in the lab’s small biotechnology department had raised concerns late last year about short […]

Official U.S. records dramatically underestimate mortality and life expectancy disparities for Native Americans, according to a new, groundbreaking study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research, led by the Boston University School of Public Health, provides compelling evidence of a profound discrepancy between actual and officially reported statistics on the health […]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states may ban puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender teens, rejecting the claim that such gender-based discrimination is unconstitutional. In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative majority said states are generally free to decide on proper standards of medical care. Chief Justice John G. Roberts said there is […]

More than five months after a wildfire devastated the Pacific Palisades, the final evacuation orders have been fully lifted, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. A portion of the coastal Los Angeles neighborhood had remained under an evacuation order because of dangerous downed wires, potentially explosive lithium-ion batteries and toxic wildfire debris, said Lyndsey […]

• COVID rising in wastewater in parts of California• New subvariant, ‘Nimbus,’ increasingly dominant nationally• Concerns rise about Trump’s appointees making vaccine access more difficult COVID-19 appears to be on the rise in some parts of California as a new, highly contagious subvariant — featuring “razor blade throat” symptoms overseas — is becoming increasingly dominant. […]

He had a buzz cut and brown eyes, a stubbly beard and a wrestler’s build. He did not have a wallet or phone; he could not state his name. He arrived at Los Angeles General Medical Center one cloudy day this winter just as thousands of people do every year: alone and unknown. Some 130,000 […]

The California Public Health Department has dropped efforts to suspend the license of a Hollywood nursing home whose actions were found to have led to two patient deaths in recent years. Brier Oak on Sunset was among seven Los Angeles County facilities that received notice last month that the state was moving to suspend their […]

Former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center obstetrician-gynecologist Barry J. Brock has surrendered his medical license following an accusation of negligent care from the state medical board. Brock, 75, signed an agreement late last month to give up the license he has held since 1978, rather than contest an accusation the Medical Board of California filed in September […]

Elected officials in California are calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Newsom administration to pay for soil testing on properties destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, underscoring the public health risk and financial burdens that could be faced by survivors seeking to rebuild in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. FEMA, the agency […]

President Donald Trump signed legislation seeking to rescind California’s ambitious auto emission standards, including a landmark rule that would’ve eventually barred sales of new gas-only cars in California by 2035. In a bill signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, Trump slammed California’s planned zero-emission requirements for new car sales […]

On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings document how the odors from the […]

On a 7-5 vote, the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday rejected controversial measures aimed at reducing air pollution by imposing surcharges that could make natural gas-powered water heaters and furnaces more expensive to buy. In voting to deny the measures, AQMD board member Janet Nguyen said the rule would unnecessarily penalize people […]

The California Department of Public Health is moving to suspend the licenses of seven Southern California nursing facilities that have been repeatedly cited in recent years for contributing to patients’ deaths. The state health department sent letters last month to seven companies in Los Angeles County that received at least two “AA” violations within the […]

It was one of the largest, longest and most lethal harmful algae blooms in Southern California’s recorded history, claiming the lives of hundreds of dolphins and sea lions between Baja California and the Central Coast. And now, finally, it’s over. Levels of toxic algae species in Southern California coastal waters have declined in recent weeks […]

California and three other states petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to ease its restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone, citing the drug’s proven safety record and arguing the limits are unnecessary. “The medication is a lifeline for millions of women who need access to time-sensitive, critical healthcare — especially low-income women […]

California lawmakers are taking aim at proposed rules to implement a state law aimed at curbing plastic waste, saying the draft regulations proposed by CalRecycle undermine the letter and intent of the legislation. In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and two of his top administrators, the lawmakers said CalRecycle exceeded its authority by drafting […]

As promised, federal health officials have dropped longstanding recommendations that healthy children and healthy pregnant women should get the COVID-19 vaccines. “The COVID-19 vaccine schedule is very clear. The vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women. The vaccine is not recommended for healthy children,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a […]

Sacramento — Want to know what constitutes an acceptable form of recycling in California under CalRecycle’s new draft guidelines for the state’s landmark plastic waste law? It’ll cost you roughly $187, and even then you may not find your answer. The issue arose this week when CalRecycle held a Sacramento workshop on its proposed regulations to implement […]

A new, highly transmissible COVID subvariant has been detected in California — heightening the risk of a potential summer wave as recent moves by the Trump administration threaten to make vaccines harder to get, and more expensive, for many Americans, some health experts warn. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this […]

As hot, dry and disastrous as the last few years have been, it appears that the chaos caused by a warming planet is just getting started. Though the hottest year in nearly two centuries was recorded only last year, the world will probably shatter that record yet again by 2029, according to a new report […]

In recent months, funding for biomedical research from the National Institutes of Health has been canceled, delayed and plunged into uncertainty. According to an April STAT News analysis, NIH funding has decreased by at least $2.3 billion since the beginning of the year. KFF Health News reports the full or partial termination of approximately 780 […]

Firefighters made steady progress fighting a slow-moving brush fire near Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Mountain on Sunday. The Inn fire began Thursday afternoon off Highway 395 in Mono County. By nightfall, it had grown to over 500 acres, prompting evacuations spanning much of Mono City and Lundy Canyon. But as weather improved into Saturday […]

• Axial Seamount is the best-monitored submarine volcano in the world.• It’s the most active undersea volcano closest to California.• It could erupt by the end of the year. A mysterious and highly active undersea volcano off the Pacific Coast could erupt by the end of this year, scientists say. Nearly a mile deep and […]

State waste officials have taken another stab at rules implementing a landmark plastic waste law, more than two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom torpedoed their initial proposal. CalRecycle, the state agency that oversees waste management, recently proposed a new set of draft regulations to implement SB 54, the 2022 law designed to reduce California’s single-use […]

A growing coalition of HIV prevention organizations, health experts and Democrats in Congress are sounding the alarm over sweeping Trump administration cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and surveillance programs nationally, warning they will reverse years of progress combating the disease and cause spikes in new cases — especially in California and among the LGBTQ+ community. In […]

Residents in the Eaton burn area and downwind can now send in soil samples from their yard to test for lead, a potent neurotoxin that’s especially dangerous for kids, thanks to a new program from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that launched this week. The program is free for residents, who can […]

PALM SPRINGS — Less than a week after a targeted bomb explosion nearly destroyed his fertility clinic, Dr. Maher Abdallah stood below the blazing desert sun in front of a liquor store, its windows blown out by the powerful blast. Behind him was what remained of American Reproductive Centers. The clinic — the Coachella Valley’s only full-service […]

A crew of 10, many sporting bright orange National Day Laborer Organizing Network T-shirts, funneled out of a Mexican restaurant on the edge of the Eaton burn scar. Four months — to the day — after winds smashed a tree into a car next to NDLON’s Pasadena Community Job Center and soot blanketed the neighborhood, […]

Cleanup efforts following the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires are underway, but an ongoing concern is swimming pools in the two burn zones, many of which contain stagnant water that has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes that can carry diseases. In the region affected by the Eaton fire, officials responsible for mosquito control say […]

Are cookies and chips the new cigarettes? And soda, breakfast cereals and ice cream the new opioids? In his new book, “Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight” (Flatiron Books), former FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler argues that ultraprocessed foods — meaning “irresistible, highly processed, highly palatable, energy-dense, high-glycemic foods,” […]

If you have been to an ER lately — or if you’ve watched the disturbingly accurate TV show “The Pitt” — you’ve seen scenes that resemble field hospitals more than state-of-the-art medical centers. Waiting rooms have been turned into makeshift care zones. Chairs, cots and cubicles serve as gurneys. Providers eyeball the sick and injured […]

President Biden’s weekend announcement that he has an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bone sparked the usual sympathy from supporters — and sharp suspicions among detractors. The announcement comes amid fresh reporting on Biden and his inner circle hiding the degree to which his mental acuity was slipping during his […]

WASHINGTON — The revelation that former President Biden has advanced prostate cancer generated more questions than answers on Monday, prompting debate among experts in the oncology community over the likely progression of his disease and resurfacing concerns in Washington over his decision last year to run for reelection. Biden’s private office said Sunday afternoon that he had […]

Exercise has long been linked with stronger brains and reduced risk of dementia and other cognitive diseases. But new research suggests that older adults can significantly improve brain health with only a few minutes of daily movement. Researchers from the University of South Australia and the U.S.-based AdventHealth Research Institute found that as few as […]

WASHINGTON — Former President Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer, his office said Sunday, a devastating development after having dropped his bid for reelection last summer over widespread concerns over his age and health. Biden’s personal office said he was examined last week after the president reported a series of concerning symptoms. […]

It seems like a straightforward question: Do the tons of toxic material the Los Angeles County fires sent spewing into the ocean pose an ongoing threat to human health? For nearly five months, public agencies, advocacy groups and scientists have analyzed samples of seawater and sand in an attempt to determine whether January’s catastrophe has […]

A state environmental oversight board voted unanimously to rescind a controversial proposal that would have permitted California municipal landfills to accept contaminated soil that is currently required to be dumped at sites specifically designated and approved for hazardous waste. Earlier this year, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released a draft of its […]

Eleven of the 23 Pasadena Unified School District schools, where students have been back on campus since January, have contaminated soil following the Eaton fire, the district found. Over 40% of the schools had lead at levels exceeding the state’s health-based limits for residential soil, and over 20% had arsenic levels beyond what L.A. County […]

A group of environmental researchers is calling on the Newsom administration to step in and pay for soil testing at thousands of homes destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires. Nearly a dozen university professors wrote a letter Wednesday to Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Yana Garcia, imploring state officials not […]

Just when it seemed that the skincare industry had exhausted itself with absurd products and cyborgian procedures, Kim Kardashian brought a new one into the cultural consciousness. In the summer of 2024, Kim Kardashian announced on “The Kardashians” that she had salmon sperm injected into her face, spurring reactions of glee and intrigue that echoed […]

During an interview in late April with Dr. Phil, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterated his appeal to parents on vaccine safety: “We live in a democracy, and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research.” The U.S. health secretary has also announced his own investigation, pledging to find an […]

Scientists have released some of the first independent test results confirming that drinking water in fire-affected areas around Altadena and the Pacific Palisades is largely free of harmful contaminants, as an Altadena utility lifted the last “do not drink” notice left in the burn zones. Researchers with the LA Fire HEALTH Study released results on […]

Eric Eller likes to ride his dirt bikes through the canyons, dry riverbeds and rocky outcroppings of the Antelope Valley in the high desert north of Los Angeles. Eller’s an off-the-grid kind of guy with a “Mad Max” vibe — living in a house on a remote plot of land next to a jury-rigged trailer […]

Congress is forging ahead with its budget for next year, but the most controversial program on the chopping block — Medicaid — is causing a rift within the Republican Party. Earlier this year, Congress passed a budget blueprint that contains billions of dollars in cuts to federal spending, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised […]

Southern California Edison was hit with another lawsuit in the wake of the Eaton fire Wednesday, with lawyers claiming families living in or near areas devastated by the Eaton fire may have suffered from dangerous levels of lead, asbestos and other toxic substances. The Los Angeles County Superior Court suit claims Edison’s negligence in maintaining […]

More Californians are talking to their therapists through a video screen or by phone than in person, marking a profound shift in how mental healthcare is delivered as record-setting numbers seek help. While patients and providers say teletherapy is effective and easier to get than in-person services, experts in the field noted that teletherapy often […]

New soil testing by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by January’s catastrophic wildfires and cleared by federal cleanup crews. The county health department hired Roux Associates Inc. to conduct soil sampling at 30 homesites that had been cleaned up […]

President Trump’s choice of Dr. Casey Means, a Los Angeles holistic medicine doctor and wellness influencer, as his nominee for surgeon general appears to mark another attempt to defy establishment medicine and longstanding federal policy. Trump portrayed Means — a 37-year-old Stanford medical school graduate and author who describes herself on LinkedIn as a “former […]

In the last year, the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians – Kizh Nation has worked to protect its cultural sites from more than 850 land development projects around the Los Angeles Basin, thanks to a 2014 state law that allows tribes to give input during projects’ environmental review processes. Now, its chief fears that a […]

A battle is underway against an invasive mosquito behind a recent surge in the local spread of dengue fever in Southern California — and officials may have unlocked a powerful tool to help win the day. Two vector control districts — local agencies tasked with controlling disease-spreading organisms — released thousands of sterile male mosquitoes […]

Dr. Charles DeCarli, co-director of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Research Center, got the news in a call from a colleague on March 24. “Your study was terminated.” DeCarli had been conducting a six-year examination, funded by the National Institutes of Health, of brain and vascular conditions that can be risk factors for dementia. The study, […]

The annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research took place in Seattle this week. The field’s premiere scientific conference was scheduled to be held in the Emerald City five years ago, until COVID-19 dashed those plans. This time, U.S. autism researchers face a very different kind of crisis: massive cuts to federal funding, […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Nisha Acharya, an eye doctor and UC San Francisco professor, was at her campus clinic tending patients when a surprising email arrived. Her federal research grant had just been terminated, according to a reporter for the Washington Post, who wondered if Acharya had any comment. She was stunned. Her research, into the workings of […]

A long-feared monster earthquake off California, Oregon and Washington could cause some coastal areas to sink by more than 6 feet, dramatically heightening the risk of flooding and radically reshaping the region with little to no warning. Those are the findings of a new study that examined the repercussions of a massive earthquake on the […]

Reports that the White House may propose nearly a 50% cut to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate are both mind-boggling and, if true, nothing short of disastrous. To make those cuts happen — a total of $3.6 billion — NASA would have to close the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and cancel the mission that […]

Community colleges play a critical role in addressing California’s persistent demand for healthcare workers, preparing students to become the state’s next generation of nurses, medical assistants and physical therapy aides. But in the Los Angeles Community College District, where more than half of all students report incomes near or below the poverty line, many people […]

California is heading toward another record year for cases of valley fever, the disease caused by fungal spores linked to cycles of drought and precipitation. There were 3,123 reported cases of valley fever in the first three months of the year, according to state health officials — roughly double the 10-year average for the first-quarter […]

Measles has been confirmed in a Los Angeles County resident who recently returned from Texas, a state that is in the midst of an outbreak of the highly infectious disease, health officials said Friday. The outbreak in Texas is one of the worst seen in the U.S. in years, and it has claimed the lives […]

In December, Stanford School of Medicine colleagues Dr. Nathan Lo and Mathew Kiang got to talking. Childhood immunization rates were slowly but steadily falling nationwide, from 95% in the years before the pandemic to less than 93% in the 2023-24 school year. If even that relatively small decline in vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella […]

With the Trump administration slashing budgets and threatening to revoke tax-exempt status for nonprofits, some Southern California social justice organizations have gone into a defensive crouch, hoping to wait out the passing storm. They are not openly fighting President Trump’s program cuts. Some have scrubbed their websites of terms such as “equity,” “inclusion” and “transgender.” […]

When I was a child, I visited the village in India where my father grew up. As we strolled down dirt roads, he reminisced on his barefoot youth. I don’t remember much of what he said — I was too busy looking for reptiles in the shrubs. Later that day, we came upon a gaggle […]

Heartland Charter School in Kern County has several dream field trips on the calendar this spring, including tours of In-N-Out Burger, an Amtrak train ride along the Central Coast and a matinee performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Hollywood Pantages. The outings may not seem unusual, but Heartland’s student body differs […]

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, on Tuesday announced a plan to ban synthetic food dyes that color everyday snack items such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and M&Ms. The first step in the plan is for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke authorization of citrus red No. 2 […]

As the leader of a nonprofit that supports thousands of children and adults with developmental disabilities across Los Angeles County, I’ve seen firsthand the strength, resilience and dignity of families raising children with autism. So when I heard the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services claim last week that autism “destroys” children and families […]

A 3-year-old girl in Mexico died this month after getting infected with H5N1 bird flu, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization this week. Authorities say the strain of bird flu is one that has been circulating in wild birds throughout North America, known as D1.1. It is the same strain implicated […]

On Jan. 7, two residents on opposite sides of Altadena — Francois Tissot, a Caltech professor who studies the geology of ancient Earth and our solar system, living in the east side of town; and Jane Potelle, an environmental advocate living in the west side — fled the intensifying red glow of the devastating Eaton […]

Health officials in Hood River County, Ore., are investigating three cases of a rare and fatal brain disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Two people have died and a third person is showing symptoms consistent with the disease. The disease has been confirmed in one of the deceased through an autopsy; the other two cases are […]

A major initiative at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles aims to address a critical but much overlooked need: mental health care for families experiencing the complex flood of joy, fear and upheaval during the first few years of a child’s life. Myriad issues can emerge or become exacerbated in a family after a baby is born, […]

A dead 50-foot gray whale washed ashore in Huntington Beach on Friday, according to officials with the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. The cause of death of the young adult female is not yet known, said Glenn Gray, chief executive of the Laguna Beach-based nonprofit. Employees of the center performed a necropsy of the body on […]

When news broke that scientists in Texas had succesfully reintroduced the long-extinct dire wolf to the modern world, more people than just “Game of Thrones” fans took notice. Researchers at the Natural History Museum’s La Brea Tar Pits, where a wall is decorated with hundreds of dire wolf skulls, had questions. Namely, are they really […]

After months of questions in the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has finally shared preliminary results from soil testing in and around the burn areas. The publicly available data are still somewhat vague — but they do show concerning levels of lead on properties downwind […]

Three people in Mammoth Lakes died recently after contracting hantavirus, the same infection that killed Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa earlier this year. The cases have heightened concerns among public health officials about the spread of the rare, but deadly disease that attacks the lungs. At a news conference last month, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief […]

The price of electric vehicles in the U.S. will likely rise due to the Trump administration’s new tariffs, potentially jeopardizing California’s ambitious climate goals. Over the past month, the Trump administration announced it will impose tariffs against many of the U.S.’ largest trading partners, across a range of imported goods. The tariffs would levy a […]

As firefighters battled the catastrophic blazes in Los Angeles County in January, California’s U.S. senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both Democrats, signed on to legislation with a simple aim: provide federal assistance to first responders diagnosed with service-related cancer. The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act is considered crucial by its supporters, with climate change […]

Judith Joseph has spent most of her life building an impressive résumé. She is a board-certified psychiatrist, chair of the Women in Medicine Initiative for Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, the principal investigator of her own research lab — and a […]

Gray whales are dying in large numbers, again. At least 70 whales have perished since the start of the year in the shallow, protected lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula where the animals have congregated for eons to calf, nurse and breed, said Steven Swartz, a marine scientist who has studied gray whales since 1977. […]

A smoldering chemical reaction brewing deep inside the recently closed Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic now threatens to consume an entire 160-acre canyon of buried waste, endangering a storage area for hazardous liquid waste, according to state officials. The California Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Toxic Substances Control say the situation poses “an […]

Dr. Adam Ratner has heard a lot of myths and misunderstandings about measles in his decades as a New York City pediatric infectious disease specialist. A troubling untruth he’s seen circulating on social media during the current outbreak is that being infected with the virus instead of getting vaccinated confers benefits on the immune system […]

California and a coalition of other states sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to cut billions of dollars in federal public health grants designed to make states more resilient to infectious disease, and accused the administration of overreaching its authority by clawing back funding already allocated by Congress. The pullback in funding is […]

There is a nonzero chance that somewhere in the nearby solar system is a rock that might kill us all. This stony assassin may well be orbiting the sun at this very moment, careening down a celestial path that could, one day, intersect with ours. And if that rock is big enough and hits in […]

Statements from the Trump administration that officials are considering cuts to key programs for the prevention of HIV and AIDS are generating outrage among two of the largest LGBTQ+ service organizations in Southern California. Leaders of the LGBT Center in Los Angeles and DAP Health in the Coachella Valley said that a sharp cut in […]

A deadly, drug-resistant fungus that preys on the sick and old is continuing to spread in hospitals and senior care facilities across the country, killing more than 1 in 3 infected. Candida auris, a type of yeast that can cause life-threatening illness, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016 with 52 infections reported across […]

Orange County pediatrician Dr. Eric Ball still feels guilty about the Disneyland measles outbreak of 2014. At the time, his office allowed children whose parents refused to vaccinate them to still remain as patients. Many took advantage of the policy, leaving the children in his practice well below the 95% threshold that experts say is […]

In the early days of the pandemic, I began pondering the idea of healing. I stumbled upon a story about a cable repair vessel, the Leon Thevenin, which had attended to a cable break off the west coast of Africa. The cable, which had broken deep at sea, had caused an alarming and potentially fatal […]

The immediate risks faced by the firefighters who were on the front lines battling the Palisades and Eaton fires that tore through Los Angeles County may have abated, but long-term health concerns remain. A team of researchers tested the blood of a group of 20 firefighters who were called to duty when the wildfires hit […]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans Thursday to slash the Department of Health and Human Services, cutting nearly a quarter of its workforce in a major restructuring that will consolidate several departments. According to the Department of Health, the cuts will save $1.8 billion annually and reduce the employee headcount from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time […]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified the California Department of Public Health it is suspending grants it had provided to support the state’s infectious-disease response during the COVID-19 pandemic. The directive was sent to all 50 states and will cancel roughly $12 billion in funding. California officials said they couldn’t immediately say […]

Redondo Beach — The Trump administration’s targeting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will jeopardize efforts to save sea lions, dolphins, sea birds and other wildlife stricken by poisons lurking offshore, say marine scientists, public health officials and animal rescuers. Federal research and funding plays a crucial role in enabling scientists to monitor ocean conditions — […]

The Tuolumne County Public Health Department on Wednesday confirmed two measles cases a day after it opened an investigation into the possible infections. The department said the cases involved an adult and a child under 18 who lived in the same household and had traveled internationally. It’s unclear whether they had been vaccinated against measles, […]

Extraordinary things happen in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The sick rise from bed with new hearts and lungs. Machines valiantly take over for faltering kidneys, heart valves, bronchial tubes. All patients enter with grave health concerns, and the vast majority leave recovered, or at least on the road […]

A new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9 has surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi where chickens are raised for breeding. The finding of the new strain came as researchers separately reported a potentially positive development: Exposure to human seasonal flu may confer some immunity to H5N1 bird flu. The […]

After every federal employee received an email asking them to list their recent accomplishments, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X, warning any employee who didn’t respond would be terminated. NASA, instead, asserted that replying was optional and that its leadership would handle the matter.Two weeks after the clash, the space […]

Scientists are sounding alarms about a genetic mutation that was recently identified in four dairy cow herds, nearly one year after H5N1 bird flu was first reported in Texas dairy cattle. Although not confirmed, scientists believe the infected herds are located in San Bernardino County, where health officials announced a dairy outbreak last week. The […]

President Trump’s new EPA administrator said Wednesday he was preparing to roll back dozens of landmark environmental rules, including those crucial to California programs on climate change and electric vehicles. “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,“ EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release. One of […]

Public health officials have confirmed the first case of measles in a Los Angeles County resident this year — the second infected person known to have passed through Los Angeles International Airport in 2025. A county resident who traveled while infectious arrived at LAX in the Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B) on a China […]

An unvaccinated New Mexico man who recently died was found to be infected with measles. His death could be the second in an ongoing outbreak that has sickened more than 160 people in at least nine states. The official cause of death remains under investigation by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, although […]