There are no confirmed cases in the US, but 41 people who were potentially exposed to the Andes virus are in quarantine or being monitored for symptoms. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring 41 people in the US for the Andes hantavirus after a cruise ship was hit with a rare outbreak, but the risk to the public remains low, according to health officials. This includes a group of 18 passengers from the cruise ship who are now in quarantine facilities in Nebraska and Georgia. The agency is also monitoring passengers who returned home before the outbreak was identified and others who were exposed during travel, specifically on flights where a symptomatic case was present. "Most people under monitoring are considered high-risk exposures, and CDC recommends that everyone under monitoring stay at home and avoid being around people during their 42-day monitoring period," David Fitter, incident manager for the CDC's hantavirus response, told reporters during a media briefing on Thursday.

RFK Jr. Says Americans Need More Protein. A 30-second Super Bowl ad featuring boxing legend Mike Tyson and paid for by the nonprofit MAHA Center encourages viewers to avoid processed foods and visit Realfood.gov . The government website, which Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting, provides resources on the administration's new dietary guidelines, released in January, and encourages people to use Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok to "get real answers about real food." I decided to see how Grok's advice aligns with the administration's recommendations, particularly around protein intake. The new guidelines say to get 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day--more than what was previously advised--while the new inverted food pyramid prominently features steak and other animal products.

Experts worry Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Health Department will use an internal AI tool to analyze vaccine injury claims in a way that furthers his anti-vaccine agenda. The US Department of Health and Human Services is developing a generative artificial intelligence tool to find patterns across data reported to a national vaccine monitoring database and to generate hypotheses on the negative effects of vaccines, according to an inventory released last week of all use cases the agency had for AI in 2025. The tool has not yet been deployed, according to the HHS document, and an AI inventory report from the previous year shows that it has been in development since late 2023. But experts worry that the predictions it generates could be used by Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to further his anti-vaccine agenda. A long-standing vaccine critic, Kenedy has upended the childhood vaccination schedule in his year in office, removing several shots from a list of recommended immunizations for all children, including those for Covid-19, influenza, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Novo Nordisk's semaglutide will soon be available in a daily pill Americans can take for weight loss. The US Food and Drug Administration today approved a pill version of the blockbuster anti-obesity drug Wegovy. Made by Novo Nordisk, the pill is taken once a day. The company's original version of Wegovy is a weekly injection. Both drugs contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide.

Science Corporation, founded by former Neuralink president Max Hodak, has unveiled a prototype machine to extend the life of organs for longer periods. Science Corporation, the brain-computer interface startup founded in 2021 by former Neuralink president Max Hodak, is launching a new division of the company with the goal of extending the life of human organs. Alameda, California-based Science is aiming to improve on current perfusion systems that continuously circulate blood through vital organs when they can no longer function on their own. The technology is used to preserve organs for transplant and as a life-support measure for patients when the heart and lungs stop working, but it's clunky and costly. Science wants to make a smaller, more portable system that could provide long-term support.

RFK Jr.'s Health Department Is Pondering a National Men's Health Initiative At an FDA discussion of testosterone replacement therapy, a top official called for special health centers to address a "men's health crisis." Others called to ease men's access to hormones. The US Department of Health and Human Services is considering launching a federal men's health initiative, a source at the agency tells WIRED. Brian Christine, who will be sworn in on December 12 as assistant secretary for health at HHS and head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, called for such an effort Wednesday during a Food and Drug Administration panel on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for men. A spokesperson for HHS declined to comment.

The Austin-based startup will test its high-bandwidth device to help restore speech in people with extremely limited movement. Brain implant developer Paradromics has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to test its device in an early-stage human trial, the company announced Thursday. The Austin-based company is aiming to give a digital voice to people who have lost the ability to speak due to severe motor impairment. The trial will assess the long-term safety of the Paradromics device, as well as its ability to enable synthesized speech and text communication. Paradromics is one of several companies--which include Neuralink, Synchron, Precision Neuroscience, and Cognixion --working on technology to control computers and other devices using brain waves.

Another round of terminations, combined with previous layoffs and departures, has reduced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workforce by about 3,000 people since January. After the latest round of mass firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend, the union that represents agency employees estimates that around 3,000 people this year--about a quarter of the agency's workforce--have departed the agency. That number includes workers affected by layoffs earlier this year, as well those who have accepted the Trump administration's "Fork in the Road" buyout program. The most recent cuts came down amidst the ongoing government shutdown. On October 10, more than 1,300 CDC employees received termination notices.

California-based Cognixion is launching a clinical trial to allow paralyzed patients with speech disorders the ability to communicate without an invasive brain implant. The trials will be conducted with a modified version of the Apple Vision Pro headset. Startup Cognixion announced today that it is launching a clinical trial of its wearable brain-computer interface technology integrated with the Apple Vision Pro to help paralyzed people with speech disorders communicate with their thoughts. Cognixion is one of several companies, including Elon Musk's Neuralink, that is developing a brain-computer interface, or BCI, a system that captures brain signals and translates them into commands to control external devices. While Neuralink and others are working on implants that are surgically placed in the head, Cognixion's technology is noninvasive.

Mindstate Design Labs, backed by Silicon Valley power players, has created what its CEO calls "the least psychedelic psychedelic that's psychoactive." While there's growing evidence that psychedelic drugs can effectively treat severe mental health conditions, especially in cases where traditional treatments have failed, they still come with downsides. Their hallucinogenic effects can be scary and overwhelming, with dosing sessions lasting several hours. Good treatment is heavily reliant on the individual's mindset going into a session and the environment in which they receive it. And though it's rare, psychedelics can sometimes worsen existing mental illness.