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Science Quickly

Measles Misinformation, Ozone Recovery and Woolly Mice

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With measles cases on the rise, experts are pushing back against misleading claims about vitamin A as a substitute for vaccination. A Supreme Court ruling has reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over water pollution, raising concerns about future environmental protections. And in the world of biotechnology, scientists have genetically engineered woolly mice—an experiment with implications for de-extinction efforts. Recommended reading: Company Seeking to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Creates a ‘Woolly Mouse’ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/company-seeking-to-resurrect-the-woolly-mammoth-creates-a-woolly-mouse/  Trump Gives EPA One Week to Decide on Abandoning Climate Pollution Regulation https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-gives-epa-one-week-to-decide-on-abandoning-climate-pollution/  Email us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yachtold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:20.1

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt. Happy Monday listeners.

0:40.3

For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Seltman.

0:43.6

Let's kick off the week with our usual science news roundup.

1:01.9

First, a quick note about measles, which is still spreading in West Texas and has also cropped up in smaller numbers in eight other states.

1:08.6

In an op-ed for Fox News published on March 2nd, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

1:12.6

Arguably downplayed the importance of vaccines, saying the MMR DAB provides protection against measles while also calling vaccination a, quote,

1:17.6

personal choice. He also claimed that vitamin A supplementation has been shown to, quote,

1:23.3

dramatically reduce measles mortality. Since the op-ed's publication, many experts have sounded the alarm on that plug for vitamin A.

1:31.2

The research RFK Jr. referenced does exist, but there's important context missing from that

1:37.1

op-ed. The analysis he cited focuses on studies that mostly looked at low-income countries

1:43.2

where many people have vitamin A deficiencies.

1:46.5

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's most recent data, less than 1% of

1:51.4

people in the U.S. have vitamin A deficiencies.

1:54.7

Peter Hottes, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital,

1:59.7

told the Washington Post that vitamin A can

2:01.9

play a role in treating children who are hospitalized with measles. But he and other experts

2:06.8

conveyed concerns to the Washington Post about RFK Jr.'s framing, creating a false equivalency

2:12.7

between vaccination, which is an extremely effective way to prevent measles and vitamin supplementation, which

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