UNDARK

The name Undark comes from a historical blend of science and business that led to the creation of a radium-infused product known as Undark, which was both fascinating and, as later research revealed, harmful and dangerous. We choose this name to indicate to our readers that our magazine will delve into science not merely as an impressive spectacle, but as a complex, sometimes controversial, and at times unsettling aspect of human culture.

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‘A New Era’ of Cancer Therapies

3 days ago | undark.org | Claudia Lopez Lloreda

In 2012, clinicians at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia treated Emily Whitehead, a 6-year-old with leukemia, with altered immune cells from her own body. At the time, the treatment was experimental, but it worked: The cells targeted the cancer and eradicated it. Thirteen years later, Whitehead is still cancer-free. The modified cells, called CAR-T cells, are a form of immunotherapy, where doctors change parts of the immune system into cancer-attacking instruments.
A Clear-Eyed Look at the Risks of 'Diagnosis Creep'

6 days ago | undark.org | Lola Butcher

By the time neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan met a patient she calls Darcie, the 20-year-old woman was experiencing daily seizures so disabling she had barely left her home for a year.
Health Experts Say: Don’t Abandon WHO, Reform It

1 week ago | undark.org | Ramin Skibba

When Ebola swept through West Africa in the mid-2010s, Ashish Jha joined a chorus of health experts criticizing the World Health Organization’s response. The global health agency, these critics said, was slow to declare a public health emergency and to coordinate the responses needed to contain the deadly outbreak. The disease killed more than 11,000 people, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
Cannabis Could Be Bad for Your Heart

1 week ago | undark.org | Joshua Cohen

The country’s marijuana use has been rising, especially in the 24 states that allow recreational use and in the 39 states that permit medical use of cannabis products. Twenty-two percent of people aged 12 or older say they used marijuana in 2022. Approximately 17.7 million people reported being daily or near-daily marijuana users that same year, compared to fewer than 1 million in 1992.
Agency by Agency, Federal Data Collection Is Being Dismantled

2 weeks ago | undark.org | Alec MacGillis

More children ages 1 to 4 die of drowning than any other cause of death. Nearly a quarter of adults received mental health treatment in 2023, an increase of 3.4 million from the prior year. The number of migrants from Mexico and northern Central American countries stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol was surpassed in 2022 by the number of migrants from other nations. We know these things because the federal government collects, organizes, and shares the data behind them.
How Science Might Help Keep Wild Places Wild

2 weeks ago | undark.org | Sarah Scoles

Most people used to think the Crestone Needle, a jagged peak in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo range, was unclimbable. Until, that is, Albert Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis reached its summit in 1916. Looking down, they saw a basin whose pristine nature was marred only by their own camp. The Needle was the last of Colorado’s 14ers — peaks higher than 14,000 feet — to be climbed on record. Today, Ellingwood and Davis would have company up there.
Interview: Why Autistic Women Have Been Overlooked for Decades

2 weeks ago | undark.org | Sara Talpos

It’s been more than 30 years since the award-winning film “Rain Man,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, put a spotlight on autism — or, more specifically, on a specific type of autism characterized by social awkwardness and isolation and typically affecting males. Yet as far back as the 1980s, at least one prominent autism researcher wondered whether autism’s male skew might simply reflect the fact that autistic females were, for some reason, going undiagnosed.
Policymakers Wrangle Over NIH Spending

2 weeks ago | undark.org | Michael Schulson

In February, the National Institutes of Health announced that it would be lowering the payments it makes to grant recipients to cover the overhead costs of scientific research, also called indirect costs. Two months later, the NIH laid off some 1,200 employees, as part of wider cuts to federal health agencies.
The Dangerous Illusion of Climate Resilience

3 weeks ago | undark.org | Peter Sutoris

Throughout the past few decades, discussions about how to address climate change have become dominated by two broad categories of response: adaptation, or adjusting to the realities of a warmer, more volatile planet; and mitigation, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent further warming.
Redefining 'Harm' Could Gut Protection of Endangered Species

3 weeks ago | undark.org | Kiley Price |Wyatt Myskow

President Donald Trump’s administration proposed a new rule last Wednesday that would rescind widespread habitat protections for species protected under the Endangered Species Act, a landmark law enacted in 1973 to conserve the country’s imperiled animals and plants. This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.