Losing years of progress against HIV, and farming plastic on Mars

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

First up on the podcast, U.S. aid helped two African countries rein in HIV. Then came President Donald Trump. Senior News Correspondent Jon Cohen talks with producer Kevin McLean about how in Lesotho and Eswatini, treatment and prevention cutbacks are hitting pregnant people, children, and teens especially hard. This story is part of a series about the impacts of U.S. funding cuts on global health, supported by the Pulitzer Center. Next on the show, host Sarah Crespi is joined by Robin Wordsworth, the Gordon McKay Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. They discuss the challenges and potential of microbes to grow plastics, drugs, and food on the surface of Mars or other bodies in the Solar System. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jon Cohen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the academic arm of the
0:05.5	Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, and one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:11.1	What are researchers on heart health working on to transform patient care and prolong lives?
0:16.6	Find out in a special supplement to Science Magazine prepared by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in partnership with Science.
0:24.4	Visit our website at www.science.org and search for Frontiers of Medical Research, dash heart.
0:31.9	The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we find a way.
0:40.3	This is a science podcast for July 3rd, 2025. I'm Sarah Crespi.
0:41.3	First this week, USAID helped two African countries rein in HIV.
0:46.3	Then came President Donald Trump.
0:49.3	Senior news correspondent John Cohen talks with producer Kevin McClain
0:53.3	about how treatment
0:54.9	and prevention cutbacks are hitting pregnant people, children, and teens especially hard.
1:00.2	Next on the show, I talk with researcher Robin Wordsworth about life on Mars, cultivating
1:05.1	it that is.
1:06.5	More specifically, we talk about the challenges and possibilities of using microbes
1:10.9	to grow plastics, drugs, and food on the surface of the red planet or other bodies in the solar system.
1:24.7	In January of this year, the Trump administration started a widespread effort to slash government
1:30.2	programs and spending.
1:32.4	One of the major targets was the U.S. Agency for International Development or USAID, one
1:37.3	of the country's main administrators of foreign aid.
1:40.9	In a series supported by the Pulitzer Center, the News From Science team is looking into the impacts of U.S. funding cuts on global health.
1:49.1	Today, we have John Cohen who traveled to Lesotho and Iswatini to report on how the loss of aid is affecting treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
	...

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