Tag: Science
-
Unraveling the mysteries of the Kennewick Man
Chip Reid introduces us to a mystery man whose origins go way, way back — as in 9,000 years.
-
Scientists capture the crackling sounds of what they believe is lightning on Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
The crackling of electrical discharges was captured by a microphone on the rover, a French-led team reported Wednesday.
The researchers documented 55 instances of what they call “mini lightning” over two Martian years, primarily during dust storms and dust devils. Almost all occurred on the windiest Martian sols, or days, during dust storms and dust devils.
Just inches (centimeters) in size, the electrical arcs occurred within 6 feet (2 meters) of the microphone perched atop the rover’s tall mast, part of a system for examining Martian rocks via camera and lasers. Sparks from the electrical discharges — akin to static electricity here on Earth — are clearly audible amid the noisy wind gusts and dust particles smacking the microphone.
Scientists have been looking for electrical activity and lightning at Mars for half a century, said the study’s lead author Baptiste Chide, of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse.
“It opens a completely new field of investigation for Mars science,” Chide said, citing the possible chemical effects from electrical discharges. “It’s like finding a missing piece of the puzzle.”
The evidence is strong and persuasive, but it’s based on a single instrument that was meant to record the rover zapping rocks with lasers, not lightning blasts, said Cardiff University’s Daniel Mitchard, who was not involved in the study. What’s more, he noted in an article accompanying the study in the journal Nature, the electrical discharges were heard — not seen.
“It really is a chance discovery to hear something else going on nearby, and everything points to this being Martian lightning,” Mitchard said in an email. But until new instruments are sent to verify the findings, “I think there will still be a debate from some scientists as to whether this really was lightning.”
Lightning has already been confirmed on Jupiter and Saturn, and Mars has long been suspected of having it too.
To find it, Chide and his team analyzed 28 hours of Perseverance recordings, documenting episodes of “mini lightning” based on acoustic and electric signals.
Electrical discharges generated by the fast-moving dust devils lasted just a few seconds, while those spawned by dust storms lingered as long as 30 minutes.
“It’s like a thunderstorm on Earth, but barely visible with a naked eye and with plenty of faint zaps,” Chide said in an email. He noted that the thin, carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere absorbs much of the sound, making some of the zaps barely perceptible.
Mars’ atmosphere is more prone than Earth’s to electrical discharging and sparking through contact among grains of dust and sand, according to Chide.
“The current evidence suggests it is extremely unlikely that the first person to walk on Mars could, as they plant a flag on the surface, be struck down by a bolt of lightning,” Mitchard wrote in Nature. But the “small and frequent static-like discharges could prove problematic for sensitive equipment.”
These aren’t the first Mars sounds transmitted by Perseverance. Earthlings have listened in to the rover’s wheels crunching over the Martian surface and the whirring blades of its no-longer-flying helicopter sidekick, Ingenuity.
Perseverance has been scouring a dry river delta at Mars since 2021, collecting samples of rock for possible signs of ancient microscopic life. NASA plans to return these core samples to Earth for laboratory analysis, but the delivery is on indefinite hold as the space agency pursues cheaper options.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
-
Kilauea displays lava fountains for the 37th time since its eruption began last year
HONOLULU — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air.
The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened.
It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began.
The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less. The volcano has paused for at least a few days in between.
In some cases, Kilauea’s lava towers have soared as high as skyscrapers. The volcano has generated such tall fountains in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.
Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.
It’s one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of six active volcanoes in Hawaii.
-
Trump signs executive order for AI project called Genesis Mission to boost scientific discoveries
President Donald Trump is directing the federal government to combine efforts with tech companies and universities to convert government data into scientific discoveries, acting on his push to make artificial intelligence the engine of the nation’s economic future.
Trump unveiled the “Genesis Mission” as part of an executive order he signed Monday that directs the Department of Energy and national labs to build a digital platform to concentrate the nation’s scientific data in one place.
It solicits private sector and university partners to use their AI capability to help the government solve engineering, energy and national security problems, including streamlining the nation’s electric grid, according to White House officials who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to describe the order before it was signed. Officials made no specific mention of seeking medical advances as part of the project.
“The Genesis Mission will bring together our Nation’s research and development resources — combining the efforts of brilliant American scientists, including those at our national laboratories, with pioneering American businesses; world-renowned universities; and existing research infrastructure, data repositories, production plants, and national security sites — to achieve dramatic acceleration in AI development and utilization,” the executive order says.
The administration portrayed the effort as the government’s most ambitious marshaling of federal scientific resources since the Apollo space missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, even as it had cut billions of dollars in federal funding for scientific research and thousands of scientists had lost their jobs and funding.
Trump is increasingly counting on the tech sector and the development of AI to power the U.S. economy, made clear last week as he hosted Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The monarch has committed to investing $1 trillion, largely from the Arab nation’s oil and natural gas reserves, to pivot his nation into becoming an AI data hub.
For the U.S.’s part, funding was appropriated to the Energy Department as part of the massive tax-break and spending bill signed into law by Trump in July, White House officials said.
As AI raises concerns that its heavy use of electricity may be contributing to higher utility rates in the nearer term, which is a political risk for Trump, administration officials argued that rates will come down as the technology develops. They said the increased demand will build capacity in existing transmission lines and bring down costs per unit of electricity.
Data centers needed to fuel AI accounted for about 1.5% of the world’s electricity consumption last year, and those facilities’ energy consumption is predicted to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. That increase could lead to burning more fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, which release greenhouse gases that contribute to warming temperatures, sea level rise and extreme weather.
The project will rely on national labs’ supercomputers but will also use supercomputing capacity being developed in the private sector. The project’s use of public data including national security information along with private sector supercomputers prompted officials to issue assurances that there would be controls to respect protected information.
-
RFK Jr. says he’s following ‘gold standard’ science. Here’s what to know
The message is hammered over and over, in news conferences, hearings and executive orders: President Donald Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., say they want the government to follow “gold standard” science.
Scientists say the problem is that they are often doing just the opposite by relying on preliminary studies, fringe science or just hunches to make claims, cast doubt on proven treatments or even set policy.
This week, the nation’s top public health agency changed its website to contradict the scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. The move shocked health experts nationwide.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who resigned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August, told reporters Wednesday that Kennedy seems to be “going from evidence-based decision making to decision-based evidence making.”
It was the latest example of the Trump administration’s challenge to established science.
In September, the Republican president gave out medical advice based on weak or no evidence. Speaking directly to pregnant women and to parents, he told them not to take acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. He repeatedly made the fraudulent and long-disproven link between autism and vaccines, saying his assessment was based on a hunch.
“I have always had very strong feelings about autism and how it happened and where it came from,” he said.
At a two-day meeting this fall, Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine advisers to the CDC raised questions about vaccinating babies against hepatitis B, an inoculation long shown to reduce disease and death drastically.
“The discussion that has been brought up regarding safety is not based on evidence other than case reports and anecdotes,” said Dr. Flor Munoz, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.
During the country’s worst year for measles in more than three decades, Kennedy cast doubt on the measles vaccine while championing unproven treatments and alleging that the unvaccinated children who died were “already sick.”
Scientists say the process of getting medicines and vaccines to market and recommended in the United States has, until now, typically relied on gold standard science. The process is so rigorous and transparent that much of the rest of the world follows the lead of American regulators, giving the OK to treatments only after U.S. approval.
Gold standard science
The gold standard can differ because science and medicine is complicated and everything cannot be tested the same way. That term simply refers to the best possible evidence that can be gathered.
“It completely depends on what question you’re trying to answer,” said Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician and Stanford University researcher.
What produces the best possible evidence?
There are many different types of studies. The most rigorous is the randomized clinical trial.
It randomly creates two groups of subjects that are identical in every way except for the drug, treatment or other question being tested. Many are “blinded studies,” meaning neither the subjects nor the researchers know who is in which group. This helps eliminate bias.
It is not always possible or ethical to conduct these tests. This is sometimes the case with vaccine trials, “because we have so much data showing how safe and effective they are, it would be unethical to withhold vaccines from a particular group,” said Jessica Steier, a public health scientist and founder of the Unbiased Science podcast.
Studying the long-term effect of a behavior can be impossible. For example, scientists could not possibly study the long-term benefit of exercise by having one group not exercise for years.
Instead, researchers must conduct observational studies, where they follow participants and track their health and behavior without manipulating any variables. Such studies helped scientists discover that fluoride reduces cavities, and later lab studies showed how fluoride strengthens tooth enamel.
But the studies have limitations because they can often only prove correlation, not causation. For example, some observational studies have raised the possibility of a link between autism risk and using acetaminophen during pregnancy, but more have not found a connection. The big problem is that those kinds of studies cannot determine if the painkiller really made any difference or if it was the fever or other health problem that prompted the need for the pill.
Real world evidence can be especially powerful
Scientists can learn even more when they see how something affects a large number of people in their daily lives.
That real-world evidence can be valuable to prove how well something works — and when there are rare side effects that could never be detected in trials.
Such evidence on vaccines has proved useful in both ways. Scientists now know there can be rare side effects with some vaccines and can alert doctors to be on the lookout. The data has proved that vaccines provide extraordinary protection from disease. For example, measles was eliminated in the U.S. but it still pops up among unvaccinated groups.
That same data proves vaccines are safe.
“If vaccines caused a wave of chronic disease, our safety systems — which can detect 1-in-a-million events — would have seen it. They haven’t,” Scott told a U.S. Senate subcommittee in September.
The best science is open and transparent
Simply publishing a paper online is not enough to call it open and transparent. Specific things to look for include:
— Researchers set their hypothesis before they start the study and do not change it.
— The authors disclose their conflicts of interest and their funding sources.
— The research has gone through peer review by subject-matter experts who have nothing to do with that particular study.
— The authors show their work, publishing and explaining the data underlying their analyses.
— They cite reliable sources.
This transparency allows science to check itself. Dr. Steven Woloshin, a Dartmouth College professor, has spent much of his career challenging scientific conclusions underlying health policy.
“I’m only able to do that because they’re transparent about what they did, what the underlying source resources were, so that you can come to your own conclusion,” he said. “That’s how science works.”
Know the limits of anecdotes and single studies
Anecdotes may be powerful. They are not data.
Case studies might even be published in top journals, to help doctors or other professionals learn from a particular situation. But they are not used to making decisions about how to treat large numbers of patients because every situation is unique.
Even single studies should be considered in the context of previous research. A new one-off blockbuster study that seems to answer every question definitively or reaches a conclusion that runs counter to other well-conducted studies needs a very careful look.
Uncertainty is baked into science.
“Science isn’t about reaching certainty,” Woloshin said. “It’s about trying to reduce uncertainty to the point where you can say, ‘I have good confidence that if we do X, we’ll see result Y.’ But there’s no guarantee.”
Doing your own research? Questions to ask
If you come across a research paper online, in a news story or cited by officials to change your mind about something, here are some questions to ask:
— Who did the research? What is their expertise? Do they disclose conflicts of interest?
— Who paid for this research? Who might benefit from it?
— Is it published in a reputable journal? Did it go through peer review?
— What question are the researchers asking? Who or what are they studying? Are they making even comparisons between groups?
— Is there a “limitations” section where the authors point out what their research cannot prove, other factors that could influence their results, or other potential blind spots? What does it say?
— Does it make bold, definitive claims? Does it fit into the scientific consensus or challenge it? Is it too good or bad to be true?
___
AP Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
-
Eruption of long-dormant Ethiopian volcano subsides
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday, days after an eruption that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths.
Villages in the district of Afdera in the Afar region were covered in ash, officials said residents were coughing, and livestock found their grass and water totally covered.
Airlines cancelled dozens of flights scheduled to fly over affected areas as the meteorological department said the ash clouds were expected to clear later in the day.
India’s flag carrier, Air India, said it canceled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to inspect aircraft that may have flown over affected areas, acting on a directive from India’s aviation safety regulator.
Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had canceled flights to Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
At least seven international flights scheduled to depart from and arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi were canceled Tuesday, while at least a dozen were delayed, according to an official at the airport.
An official in charge of health in northern Ethiopia’s Afdera district, Abedella Mussa, said the residents were coughing and mobile medical services from the larger Afar region had been launched in the remote area.
“Two medical teams have been dispatched to the affected kebeles (neighborhoods) like Fia and Nemma-Gubi to provide mobile medical services,” he said.
Another official in charge of livestock, Nuur Mussa, said animals were unable to find clean water or grass. “Many animals, especially in the two affected kebeles, cannot drink clean water or feed on grass because it is covered by volcanic ash,” he said.
Atalay Ayele, a geologist at Addis Ababa University, said such eruptions occur because Ethiopia is situated along an active rift system where volcanism and earthquakes are frequent.
“This is the first recorded eruption of Hayli Gubbi in the last 10,000 years,” he told The Associated Press. “It will likely continue for a short period and then stop until the next cycle.”
High-level winds carried the ash cloud from Ethiopia across the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, the Arabian Sea and then towards western and northern India, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement. The ash cloud was moving toward China and expected to clear Indian skies late Tuesday.
___
Roy wrote from New Delhi.
-
More people are addicted to marijuana, but fewer of them are seeking help, experts say
Megan Feller smoked pot several times a day and couldn’t eat, sleep or function without it. But at the time, she didn’t see the need to reach out for help.
“I didn’t think cannabis was a big deal,” the 24-year-old said. “It was really socially accepted.”
This attitude is common. As more states legalize marijuana, use has become more normalized and products have become more potent. But fewer of those who are addicted seek help for it.
Pot use among young adults reached historic levels in recent years, according to a federally supported survey. Daily use even outpaced daily drinking, with nearly 18 million Americans reporting in 2022 that they use marijuana every day or nearly every day, up from less than 1 million three decades earlier.
Studies show a corresponding increase in cannabis use disorder — when people crave marijuana and spend lots of time using it even though it causes problems at home, school, work or in relationships. It’s a condition that researchers estimate affects about 3 in 10 pot users and can be mild, moderate or severe.
And it’s an addiction — despite the common misconception that that’s not possible with marijuana, said Dr. Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford University.
Meanwhile, the drug’s widespread acceptance has fueled a stigma about seeking treatment, said Dr. Jennifer Exo of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Minnesota.
“There’s this pervasive belief that you can’t become addicted, it can’t actually be a problem,” she said. “It has to do with this myth that cannabis is safe, natural and benign.”
Stronger weed, bigger problems
While pot isn’t as harmful as harder drugs, frequent or heavy use has been linked to problems with learning, memory and attention as well as chronic nausea, vomiting and lung problems among those who smoke it. Some evidence has also linked it to earlier onset of psychosis in people with genetic risk factors for psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.
And today’s pot is not the same as that of the past.
Many people recall older relatives who “smoked a few doobies and ate some food and fell asleep,” Exo said. “But it’s absolutely different.”
In the 1960s, most pot that people smoked contained less than 5% THC, the ingredient that causes a high. Today, the THC potency in cannabis flower and concentrates sold in dispensaries can reach 40% or more, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Teens are often vaping potent marijuana concentrates, Exo said, rather than eating brownies made with cannabis flower or taking a hit from a bong.
More access to marijuana, rising ER visits
Pot is also increasingly available. Though it’s still a federal crime to possess it, 24 states allow recreational use by adults and 40 allow medical use as of late June, the National Conference of State Legislatures said. Dispensaries abound and more people are able to keep pot at home.
Research links the legalization of recreational marijuana with rising emergency room visits for “acute cannabis intoxication,” in which patients may experience a rapid heartbeat or feel dizzy, confused or paranoid.
A study last year focused on Michigan found that legalization was associated with an immediate increase in the rate of ER visits for this condition among people of all ages, especially middle-aged adults.
Das said increased access to cannabis, along with a growing number of cannabis products and with higher potency all contribute to rising ER visits. Edibles such as gummies can pose a particular problem because they take a little while to kick in so people may keep taking more because they don’t yet feel the drug’s effects.
“Then, suddenly, they’re suffering from cannabis toxicity,” she said.
Why treatment is often overlooked
Feller first tried pot at 16 and quickly went from smoking the plant to using vape cartridges that were easy to hide in her pocket. Soon, she could barely get by without it.
“I would wake up every morning for years, and until I smoked weed, I would throw up,” she said. Instead of trying to get high, she used it “to make these other symptoms go away.”
Feller was also drinking a lot and her parents sent her to a treatment center when she was around 18. It didn’t help because she wasn’t ready to get well. After her mother died, her substance use worsened.
At 22, Feller entered Hazelden on her own — but only to get sober from alcohol, which she did.
She kept using pot on and off, then finally sought treatment for cannabis use disorder and has been sober from marijuana for almost a year.
“I’m so much happier now,” she said. “I don’t feel, like, shackled to a substance.”
Such treatment is often overlooked, said Brian Graves, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University.
He and his colleagues published a study this year showing that the share of people who got treatment for cannabis use disorder from their nationally representative sample dropped from 19% in 2003 to 13% in 2019. An earlier study also found a marked decline and pointed to reasons that include “expanding cannabis legalization and more tolerant attitudes.”
Experts said people need to be educated that pot, like alcohol, can be misused and can cause real harm.
“Another important piece is helping people understand the risk before they start,” Exo said, “and then to feel safe enough to say, ‘Hey, I need help managing this.’”
Many people wait until their marijuana use causes problems in multiple parts of their lives before they seek treatment — if they ever do.
“If you’re changing your life because of weed, there might be an issue,” Feller added. “There are resources to get help and you are not alone.”
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
-
They relied on marijuana to get through the day. But then days felt impossible without it
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — For the past several years, 75-year-old Miguel Laboy has smoked a joint with his coffee every morning. He tells himself he won’t start tomorrow the same way, but he usually does.
“You know what bothers me? To have cannabis on my mind the first thing in the morning,” he said, sparking a blunt in his Brookline, Massachusetts, apartment. “I’d like to get up one day and not smoke. But you see how that’s going.”
Since legalization and commercialization, daily cannabis use has become a defining — and often invisible — part of many people’s lives. High-potency vapes and concentrates now dominate the market, and doctors say they can blur the line between relief and dependence over time so that users don’t notice the shift. Across the country, people who turned to cannabis for help are finding it harder to put down.
Overall, alcohol remains more widely used than cannabis. But starting in 2022, the number of daily cannabis users in the U.S. surpassed that of daily drinkers — a major shift in American habits.
Researchers say the rise has unfolded alongside products that contain far more THC than the marijuana of past decades, including vape oils and concentrates that can reach 80% to 95% THC. Massachusetts, like most states, sets no limit on how strong these products can be.
Doctors warn that daily, high-potency use can cloud memory, disturb sleep, intensify anxiety or depression and trigger addiction in ways earlier generations didn’t encounter. Many who develop cannabis use disorder say it’s hard to recognize the signs because of the widespread belief that marijuana isn’t addictive. Because the consequences tend to creep in gradually — brain fog, irritability, dependence — users often miss when therapeutic use shifts into compulsion.
How a habit becomes an addiction
Laboy, a retired chef, began seeing a substance-use counselor after telling his doctor he felt depressed, unmotivated and increasingly isolated as his drinking and cannabis use escalated.
Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.
Naltrexone helped him quit alcohol, but he hasn’t found a way to quit marijuana. Unlike alcohol and opioids, there is no FDA-approved medication to treat cannabis addiction, though research is underway.
Laboy, who first smoked at 18, said marijuana has long soothed symptoms tied to undiagnosed ADHD, childhood trauma and painful experiences — including cancer treatment and his son’s death. Through decades in restaurant kitchens, he considered himself a “functional pothead.”
Lately, though, his use has become compulsive. After retiring, he began vaping 85% THC cartridges.
“These days, I carry two things in my hands: my vape and my cellular — that’s it,” he said. “I’m not proud of it, but it’s the reality.”
Cannabis eases his anxiety and “settles his spirit,” but he’s noticed it affects his concentration. He hopes to learn to read music, but sustaining focus at the piano has grown difficult.
He’s seen an addiction psychiatrist for six months, but he hasn’t been able to cut back. The medical system doesn’t seem equipped to help, he said.
“They’re not ready yet,” Laboy said. “I go to them for help, but all they say is, ‘Try to smoke less.’ I already know that — that’s why I’m there.”
Younger users describe a similar slide — one that begins with relief and ends somewhere harder to define.
Brain fog becomes ‘your new normal’
Kyle, a 20-year-old Boston University student, says cannabis helps him manage panic attacks he’s had since high school. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he buys cannabis illegally.
In the Allston apartment he shares with fraternity brothers, they have a communal bong.
When he’s high, Kyle feels calm — and able to process anxious thoughts and feel a sense of gratitude. But that clarity has become harder to reach when he’s sober.
“I think I was able to do that better a year ago,” he said. “Now I can only do it when I’m high, which is scary.”
He said the brain fog and feeling of detachment develop so gradually they become “your new normal.” Some mornings, he wakes up feeling like an observer in his own life, struggling to recall the day before. “It can be tough to wake up and go, ‘Oh my God, who am I?’” he said.
Still, he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
Kyle says cannabis helps him function — more than seeking professional treatment would. Doctors say that ambivalence is common: many people feel cannabis is both the problem and the solution.
A dream turns into a nightmare
Anne Hassel spent a month in jail and a year on probation for growing cannabis in the 1980s. She cried when Massachusetts’ first dispensaries opened — and left her physical therapy career to get a job at one.
Within a year, though, “my dream job turned into a nightmare,” she said.
Hassel, 58, said some consultants pushed staff to promote high-potency concentrates as “more medicinal,” downplaying their risks. After trying her first dab — a nearly instantaneous, “stupefying” high — she began using 90% THC concentrate several times a day.
Her use quickly became debilitating, she said. She lost interest in things she once loved, like mountain biking. One autumn day, she drove to the woods and turned back without getting out. “I just wanted to go to my friend’s house and dab,” she said. “I hated myself.”
She didn’t seek formal treatment but recovered with the help of a friend. Riding her green motorcycle — once named “Sativa” after her favorite strain — has helped her reconnect to her body and spirit.
“People don’t want to acknowledge what’s going on because legalization was tied to social justice,” she said. “You get swept up in it and don’t recognize the harm until it’s too late.”
Community for those who want to leave
Online, that realization unfolds daily on r/leaves, a Reddit community of more than 380,000 people trying to cut back or quit.
Users describe a similar push-pull — craving the calm cannabis brings, then feeling trapped by the fog. Some write about isolation and regret, saying years of smoking dulled their ambition and presence in relationships. Others post pleas for help from work or doctors’ offices.
SLIDESHOW: The every day high
An advertisement for a cannabis delivery company is seen on a public trash bin, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Miguel Laboy shops at a cannabis dispensary, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A customer holds a package containing one gram of cannabis purchased from a dispensary, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A package of fruit-flavored cannabis gummies is displayed at a dispensary, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A gram of cannabis is seen, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Miguel Laboy plays the keyboard after smoking cannabis, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Together, they paint a portrait of dependence that is quiet and routine — and difficult to escape.
“When people talk about legalizing a drug, they’re really talking about commercializing it,” said Dave Bushnell, who founded the Reddit group. “We’ve built an industry optimized to sell as much as possible.”
What doctors want people to know
Dr. Jordan Tishler, a former emergency physician who now treats medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts, said low doses of THC paired with high doses of CBD can help some patients with anxiety. Many products have high levels of THC, which can worsen symptoms, he said.
“It’s a medicine,” he said. “It can be useful, but it can also be dangerous — and access without guidance is dangerous.”
Dr. Kevin Hill, an addiction director at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who specializes in cannabis use disorder, said the biggest gap is education, among both consumers and clinicians.
“I think adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else,” but many users don’t understand the risks, Hill said.
He said the conversation shouldn’t be about prohibition but about balance and informed decision-making. “For most people, the risks outweigh the benefits.”
-
They relied on marijuana to get through the day. But then days felt impossible without it
BROOKLINE, Mass. — For the past several years, 75-year-old Miguel Laboy has smoked a joint with his coffee every morning. He tells himself he won’t start tomorrow the same way, but he usually does.
“You know what bothers me? To have cannabis on my mind the first thing in the morning,” he said, sparking a blunt in his Brookline, Mass., apartment. “I’d like to get up one day and not smoke. But you see how that’s going.”
Since legalization and commercialization, daily cannabis use has become a defining — and often invisible — part of many people’s lives. High-potency vapes and concentrates now dominate the market, and doctors say they can blur the line between relief and dependence over time so that users don’t notice the shift. Across the country, people who turned to cannabis for help are finding it harder to put down.
Overall, alcohol remains more widely used than cannabis. But starting in 2022, the number of daily cannabis users in the U.S. surpassed that of daily drinkers — a major shift in American habits.
Researchers say the rise has unfolded alongside products that contain far more THC than the marijuana of past decades, including vape oils and concentrates that can reach 80% to 95% THC. Massachusetts, like most states, sets no limit on how strong these products can be.
Doctors warn that daily, high-potency use can cloud memory, disturb sleep, intensify anxiety or depression and trigger addiction in ways earlier generations didn’t encounter. Many who develop cannabis use disorder say it’s hard to recognize the signs because of the widespread belief that marijuana isn’t addictive. Because the consequences tend to creep in gradually — brain fog, irritability, dependence — users often miss when therapeutic use shifts into compulsion.
Laboy, a retired chef, began seeing a substance-use counselor after telling his doctor he felt depressed, unmotivated and increasingly isolated as his drinking and cannabis use escalated.
Naltrexone helped him quit alcohol, but he hasn’t found a way to quit marijuana. Unlike alcohol and opioids, there is no FDA-approved medication to treat cannabis addiction, though research is underway.
Laboy, who first smoked at 18, said marijuana has long soothed symptoms tied to undiagnosed ADHD, childhood trauma and painful experiences — including cancer treatment and his son’s death. Through decades in restaurant kitchens, he considered himself a “functional pothead.”
Lately, though, his use has become compulsive. After retiring, he began vaping 85% THC cartridges.
“These days, I carry two things in my hands: my vape and my cellular — that’s it,” he said. “I’m not proud of it, but it’s the reality.”
Cannabis eases his anxiety and “settles his spirit,” but he’s noticed it affects his concentration. He hopes to learn to read music, but sustaining focus at the piano has grown difficult.
He’s seen an addiction psychiatrist for six months, but he hasn’t been able to cut back. The medical system doesn’t seem equipped to help, he said.
“They’re not ready yet,” Laboy said. “I go to them for help, but all they say is, ‘Try to smoke less.’ I already know that — that’s why I’m there.”
Younger users describe a similar slide — one that begins with relief and ends somewhere harder to define.
Kyle, a 20-year-old Boston University student, says cannabis helps him manage panic attacks he’s had since high school. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he buys cannabis illegally.
In the Allston apartment he shares with fraternity brothers, they have a communal bong.
When he’s high, Kyle feels calm — and able to process anxious thoughts and feel a sense of gratitude. But that clarity has become harder to reach when he’s sober.
“I think I was able to do that better a year ago,” he said. “Now I can only do it when I’m high, which is scary.”
He said the brain fog and feeling of detachment develop so gradually they become “your new normal.” Some mornings, he wakes up feeling like an observer in his own life, struggling to recall the day before. “It can be tough to wake up and go, ‘Oh my God, who am I?’” he said.
Still, he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.
Kyle says cannabis helps him function — more than seeking professional treatment would. Doctors say that ambivalence is common: many people feel cannabis is both the problem and the solution.
Anne Hassel spent a month in jail and a year on probation for growing cannabis in the 1980s. She cried when Massachusetts’ first dispensaries opened — and left her physical therapy career to get a job at one.
Within a year, though, “my dream job turned into a nightmare,” she said.
Hassel, 58, said some consultants pushed staff to promote high-potency concentrates as “more medicinal,” downplaying their risks. After trying her first dab — a nearly instantaneous, “stupefying” high — she began using 90% THC concentrate several times a day.
Her use quickly became debilitating, she said. She lost interest in things she once loved, like mountain biking. One autumn day, she drove to the woods and turned back without getting out. “I just wanted to go to my friend’s house and dab,” she said. “I hated myself.”
She didn’t seek formal treatment but recovered with the help of a friend. Riding her green motorcycle — once named “Sativa” after her favorite strain — has helped her reconnect to her body and spirit.
“People don’t want to acknowledge what’s going on because legalization was tied to social justice,” she said. “You get swept up in it and don’t recognize the harm until it’s too late.”
Online, that realization unfolds daily on r/leaves, a Reddit community of more than 380,000 people trying to cut back or quit.
Users describe a similar push-pull — craving the calm cannabis brings, then feeling trapped by the fog. Some write about isolation and regret, saying years of smoking dulled their ambition and presence in relationships. Others post pleas for help from work or doctors’ offices.
Together, they paint a portrait of dependence that is quiet and routine — and difficult to escape.
“When people talk about legalizing a drug, they’re really talking about commercializing it,” said Dave Bushnell, who founded the Reddit group. “We’ve built an industry optimized to sell as much as possible.”
Dr. Jordan Tishler, a former emergency physician who now treats medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts, said low doses of THC paired with high doses of CBD can help some patients with anxiety. Many products have high levels of THC, which can worsen symptoms, he said.
“It’s a medicine,” he said. “It can be useful, but it can also be dangerous — and access without guidance is dangerous.”
Dr. Kevin Hill, an addiction director at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who specializes in cannabis use disorder, said the biggest gap is education, among both consumers and clinicians.
“I think adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else,” but many users don’t understand the risks, Hill said.
He said the conversation shouldn’t be about prohibition but about balance and informed decision-making. “For most people, the risks outweigh the benefits.”
-
The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis follows science and steady funding to a broader mission
Marc Buoniconti said his father, the late NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, explained the secret to the success of their nonprofit and its fundraising efforts simply: “We’re just not good listeners.”
In the 40 years since Marc Buoniconti, then a college football linebacker at the Citadel, was paralyzed during a routine tackle, they have been told countless times that it was a problem that couldn’t be fixed. The Buonicontis didn’t listen.
Instead, through the fund that bears their name, they have helped raise more than $550 million for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and improved the lives of millions with spinal cord and brain injuries.
“The Buoniconti Fund has lasted because we’re relentless,” Marc Buoniconti recently told The Associated Press. “We never give up. When we see a challenge, we face it head-on and don’t stop until we find a solution. It’s that determination, that refusal to quit that’s kept us going all these years.”
That drive has also led The Miami Project to expand its work beyond curing paralysis. Its research center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine now also studies neurological diseases and disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and it is testing the brain-computer interface implant from Elon Musk’s technology company Neuralink.
Dr. Barth A. Green, chairman of The Miami Project, who co-founded the organization in 1985 with Nick Buoniconti, says the most surprising developments from the center have been the broadest ones.
“Every operating room in the world that puts people to sleep monitors their nervous system for safety,” Dr. Green said. “That was all developed at The Miami Project.”
Therapeutic hypothermia, where the body is cooled after an injury to protect the brain and spinal cord, is another widely used treatment developed at the center.
Dr. Green said that before Buoniconti’s accident he had been working on helping those who had been paralyzed for 20 years. Yet there wasn’t a hub for that work until The Miami Project was established.
It provided a home for him and “thousands of scientists and researchers in Miami and around the world, who were equally engaged by the opportunity to change people’s everyday quality of life and their opportunities to have more function and a better opportunity to be mobile and do things they never dreamt they could before.”
Miami Project Scientific Director W. Dalton Dietrich III said gathering those people from a variety of disciplines – neuroscientists, researchers, clinicians, biomedical engineers – into one building has led to unexpected advances.
“Not one particular treatment is going to cure paralysis,” Dietrich said. “So I’ve tried to look at other disciplines to bring into the project to help us achieve that goal.”
One new, multidisciplinary area, neuromodulation, is “something we never thought about five years ago,” Dietrich said. “It’s just an exciting area where you can stimulate these residual circuits after brain injury or spinal cord injury in patients and they start moving their limbs.”
The Buoniconti Fund’s support for the center helps accelerate research in these areas by funding early trials. That, in turn, makes it easier to eventually receive grants from government agencies like the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Defense, Dietrich said.
Marc Buoniconti says “it’s hard to put into words” seeing so many people rally behind him and the millions of others who have been paralyzed.
“What started as a promise to help me walk again became a mission to help millions,” he said. “Every resource, every dollar, every hour given is a testament to the belief that we can change lives.”
Mark Dalton, chairman and CEO of Tudor Investment Corp., said that belief resonated with him and made him want to get involved with The Buonicontis even before he met them.
“I had tremendous admiration for him as a father who was never going to give up on finding a cure for what ailed his son,” Dalton said. “And his son was a representation of millions of other people.”
Once he learned more about The Miami Project, Dalton said he was impressed by its science-driven approach. Its setting on a university campus was also important to the former chairman of the board of trustees at Denison and Vanderbilt universities.
“They put the line in the water,” said Dalton, who now chairs the Buoniconti Fund’s biggest annual fundraiser, The Great Sports Legends Dinner. “They hooked me. I’m all in.”
That’s a common feeling around The Miami Project, which counts legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus and Grammy winner Gloria Estefan among its supporters. And it’s something Marc Buoniconti says he does not take for granted.
He hopes The Miami Project’s work will continue to expand.
“My biggest dream is for our researchers to find a way to fully repair the nervous system,” Buoniconti said. “When we do that, we’ll change the entire landscape for paralysis and so many other neuro conditions. We’ll give so many people their lives back. That’s what keeps me going, and that’s what makes every struggle to this point worth it.”
_____
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
-
Gramma the Galápagos tortoise, oldest resident of San Diego Zoo, dies at about 141
LOS ANGELES — After more than a century of munching on her favorite foods of romaine lettuce and cactus fruit, beloved Galápagos tortoise Gramma, the oldest resident of the San Diego Zoo, has died.
Gramma was born in her native habitat and was estimated to be about 141 years old, zoo officials said. She died Nov. 20.
It’s not clear exactly when the tortoise arrived at the San Diego Zoo, but zoo officials said she came from the Bronx Zoo in either 1928 or 1931 as part of their first group of Galápagos tortoises.
As the world changed around her, she delighted visitors with her sweet, shy personality. She lived through two World Wars and 20 U.S. presidents.
Her care specialists affectionately called her “the Queen of the Zoo.” She was suffering from bone conditions related to her old age that progressed recently before she was euthanized, the zoo said.
Many visitors commented on social media about getting to first visit Gramma when they were young, and being able to come back years later with their kids.
Cristina Park, 69, said one of her earliest memories from her childhood was going to the San Diego Zoo when she was 3 or 4 years old and riding on the back of a tortoise. That’s no longer allowed, but the experience inspired her to keep a small desert tortoise as a pet and learn more about tortoise conservation.
“Just how amazing it is that they managed to live through so much,” Park said. “And yet they’re still there.”
Galapagos tortoises can live for over 100 years in the wild, and close to double that in captivity.
The oldest known Galapagos tortoise was named Harriet, who lived at the Australia Zoo until the age of 175. She was collected from the Galapagos Islands in 1835, when she was just the size of a dinner plate, according to the zoo. This means that she hatched somewhere around 1830, and she died in 2006.
Galápagos tortoises include 15 subspecies of tortoises from the islands, three of which were deemed extinct. The rest are all vulnerable or critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Concerted efforts have been made to breed these tortoises in captivity over the past several decades, with more than 10,000 juveniles released to the wild since 1965, according to the Galápagos Conservancy. Some subspecies have been brought back from the brink of extinction.
In April, four baby Galápagos tortoises were born at the Philadelphia Zoo to first-time parents that were roughly 100 years old, a first in the zoo’s history. In June, Zoo Miami resident and Galápagos tortoise Goliath became a first-time father at the age of 135.
-
China launches Shenzhou 22 spacecraft to assist in return of 3 astronauts
BEIJING — China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday to help bring back a team of astronauts after a damaged spacecraft left them temporarily stranded on China’s space station.
The Shenzhou 22 will be used sometime in 2026 by the three astronauts who docked on the Tiangong space station on Nov. 1.
Earlier this month, another group of Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou 20 mission faced a nine-day delay in their return to Earth after their craft’s window was damaged. They eventually returned using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, which had just carried the replacement crew to Tiangong.
While the three-person crew landed safely on Earth, three of their fellow astronauts on the replacement crew were temporarily left without a guaranteed way to return in case of an emergency.
The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft — the damaged one, which for now remains in space — will be brought down to Earth later and assessed, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The space program determined it didn’t meet safety standards for transporting the astronauts.
Chinese astronauts have been carrying out missions to the Tiangong space station in recent years as part of Beijing’s rapidly progressing space program, initially building out the station module-by-module.
China developed Tiangong after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns, since China’s space program is controlled by its military.
Tiangong, which means “Heavenly Palace,” hosted its first crew in 2021. It is smaller than the International Space Station, which has been operating for 25 years.
-
Trump Signs Executive Order for AI Project Called Genesis Mission to Boost Scientific Discoveries
President Donald Trump is directing the federal government to combine efforts with tech companies and universities to convert government data into scientific discoveries, acting on his push to make artificial intelligence the engine of the nation’s economic future.
Trump unveiled the “Genesis Mission” as part of an executive order he signed Monday that directs the Department of Energy and national labs to build a digital platform to concentrate the nation’s scientific data in one place.
It solicits private sector and university partners to use their AI capability to help the government solve engineering, energy and national security problems, including streamlining the nation’s electric grid, according to White House officials who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to describe the order before it was signed. Officials made no specific mention of seeking medical advances as part of the project.
“The Genesis Mission will bring together our Nation’s research and development resources — combining the efforts of brilliant American scientists, including those at our national laboratories, with pioneering American businesses; world-renowned universities; and existing research infrastructure, data repositories, production plants, and national security sites — to achieve dramatic acceleration in AI development and utilization,” the executive order says.
Trump is increasingly counting on the tech sector and the development of AI to power the U.S. economy, made clear last week as he hosted Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The monarch has committed to investing $1 trillion, largely from the Arab nation’s oil and natural gas reserves, to pivot his nation into becoming an AI data hub.
For the U.S.’s part, funding was appropriated to the Energy Department as part of the massive tax-break and spending bill signed into law by Trump in July, White House officials said.
As AI raises concerns that its heavy use of electricity may be contributing to higher utility rates in the nearer term, which is a political risk for Trump, administration officials argued that rates will come down as the technology develops. They said the increased demand will build capacity in existing transmission lines and bring down costs per unit of electricity.
Data centers needed to fuel AI accounted for about 1.5% of the world’s electricity consumption last year, and those facilities’ energy consumption is predicted to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. That increase could lead to burning more fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, which release greenhouse gases that contribute to warming temperatures, sea level rise and extreme weather.
The project will rely on national labs’ supercomputers but will also use supercomputing capacity being developed in the private sector. The project’s use of public data including national security information along with private sector supercomputers prompted officials to issue assurances that there would be controls to respect protected information.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025
Associated Press
Source link -
Boeing’s troubled capsule won’t carry astronauts on next space station flight
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing and NASA have agreed to keep astronauts off the company’s next Starliner flight and instead perform a trial run with cargo to prove its safety.
Monday’s announcement comes eight months after the first and only Starliner crew returned to Earth aboard SpaceX after a prolonged mission. Although NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams managed to dock Starliner to the International Space Station in 2024, the capsule had so many problems that NASA ordered it to come back empty, leaving the astronauts stuck there for more than nine months.
Engineers have since been poring over the thruster and other issues that plagued the Starliner capsule. Its next cargo run to the space station will occur no earlier than April, pending additional tests and certification.
Boeing said in a statement that it remains committed to the Starliner program with safety the highest priority.
NASA is also slashing the planned number of Starliner flights, from six to four. If the cargo mission goes well, then that will leave the remaining three Starliner flights for crew exchanges before the space station is decommissioned in 2030.
“NASA and Boeing are continuing to rigorously test the Starliner propulsion system in preparation for two potential flights next year,” NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.
NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 — three years after the final space shuttle flight — to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost. The Boeing contract was worth $4.2 billion and SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first astronaut mission for NASA in 2020. Its 12th crew liftoff for NASA was this summer.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
-
Takeoff of China’s flying taxis hits turbulence
HONG KONG (AP) — An unmanned, oval-shaped craft from flying taxi maker EHang hovers, whirring noisily like a mini-helicopter over a riverside innovation zone on the outskirts of the southern Chinese business hub of Guangzhou, part of a trial of a mini-flying taxi that once might have been found only in sci-fi films.
In nearby Shenzhen, food-delivery drones already are part of daily life and a novelty attraction for tourists, even if such services cost more. In the waterfront park surrounded by high-rises, Polish tourist Karolina Trzciańska and her friends ordered bubble tea and lemon tea by phone, just to give it a try. Their drinks arrived via a drone buzzing through the drizzle about 30 minutes later.
“This is the first time I’m seeing something like this, so it was super fun to see the food being delivered by the drone,” she said.
Such businesses are growing quickly with support from the government, though the take off of the so-called “low-altitude economy” faces obstacles such as strict airspace controls and battery limitations.
Activities in airspace below 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet) accounted for business turnover worth 506 billion yuan ($70 billion) in 2023, about 0.4% of China’s economy. By 2035, it’s expected to hit 3.5 trillion yuan (about $490 billion), said Zhang Xiaolan, a researcher at the State Information Center, a think tank affiliated with China’s main planning agency.
Flying cars are in the making
Guangdong province, home to drone giant DJI with an estimated 70% of the global commercial drone market, leads in development of the low-altitude economy, followed by wealthy eastern coastal provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang, near Shanghai, according to a report by a research unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and other institutions.
Other big players in Guangdong include EHang, logistics company SF Express’s drone arm Phoenix Wings, and automaker XPENG’s flying car unit ARIDGE.
In October, Guangdong announced it plans to speed up construction of flight service stations and platforms to facilitate airspace operations and will support locally issued discount vouchers for low-altitude tourism.
Its technology and financial hub Shenzhen has launched a 15-million-yuan ($2.1 million) award for companies that earn certifications required for passenger eVTOLs, short for “electric vertical take-off and landing” vehicles that lift off the ground like helicopters, among other incentives.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration has granted certificates allowing EHang to offer commercial passenger services with its pilotless eVTOL, a low-altitude aircraft that can reach speeds of 130 kph (81 mph) with a maximum range of 30 kilometers (19 miles).
EHang hasn’t launched commercial routes, but its vice president, He Tianxing, says it aims to start with aerial sightseeing services. The company has been building takeoff and landing sites in 20 Chinese cities over the past two years. He expects aircraft of various companies will be flying multiple routes, possibly after five years.
He envisions eventual citywide networks using the rooftops of malls, schools and parks as terminals.
“It can’t just be a research product, nor an engineer’s toy,” he said.
Accidents, battery limitations and airspace controls
The biggest challenge for developing eVTOL aircraft is maintaining longer flights and overcoming battery capacity limitations, said Guo Liming, co-founder of Shenzhen-based Skyevtol, whose single-seat manned eVTOL aircraft, priced at around $100,000, can only fly 20 to 30 minutes before it must be charged.
It also has not all been smooth skies.
In September, two XPENG’s eVTOL aircraft collided after a rehearsal for an exhibition and one of them caught fire while landing. The company said no one was hurt, but another expo canceled flying demonstrations a week later.
Undeterred, XPENG has continued to showcase its flying cars, including a six-wheeled ground vehicle with a detachable eVTOL aircraft. Having invested over $600 million, the company said it has more than 7,000 global orders for its “Land Aircraft Carrier” and has begun preparing for mass production.
A trial run of sightseeing flights in Dunhuang, a key ancient Silk Road destination famous for its Buddhist caves and dunes, is planned for next July.
It’s unclear how quickly such aircraft might begin carrying paid passengers regularly. Some companies elsewhere have burned through their funding before reaching the commercial launch stage. In Germany, air taxi makers Lilium and Volocopter filed for bankruptcy, though the latter was later bought by Diamond Aircraft Group, a subsidiary of a Chinese firm.
After years of commercialization, drone applications are not that widespread in China.
Even though the country leads in drone technology and manufacturing, policy constraints including limited airspace access, may mean overseas markets are more promising, said Frank Zhou, managing director at GBA Low Altitude Technology Co., which provides technological software to clients.
“Perhaps for some Southeast Asian countries, if I introduce these applications to them, their demand could explode,” he said.
Less than one-third of China’s low-altitude airspace was accessible for general aviation use in 2023 and there were problems with uneven distribution and a lack of internet connectivity, Zhang, the State Information Center researcher, said in a report. The number of registered general aviation aerodromes in China, excluding private airports, was just about a tenth of those in the U.S., she said.
Officials are easing their grip, but there’s turbulence ahead
Chinese policymakers are gradually working to close the gap. The military generally commands use of most Chinese airspace but has pledged to simplify approval procedures and shorten review times in Shenzhen and five other provinces.
Proposed revisions of the civil aviation law include a chapter on development and promotion of civilian activities, addressing low-altitude airspace allocation and supervision.
It’s still early days, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking.
He expects progress toward commercialization to materialize around 2030, with passenger-carrying eVTOLs for tourism or industrial purposes starting before flying taxi services. Some of the aerial products could become key exports, he said.
China is a latecomer to the industry but now leads in developing small drones and low-altitude airspace investments, said Chen Wen-hua, director at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Research Centre for Low Altitude Economy.
One advantage is the ruling Communist Party’s ability to mobilize regulators, industry players and universities to work toward the same goal, he said. But development of the technologies involved and safety concerns and public acceptance will determine how quickly different applications of drones and low-flying vehicles are adopted.
The future for the low altitude economy is bright, Chen said, “however, the road leading to that bright future might be treacherous.”
____
Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
-
Takeoff of China’s flying taxis hits turbulence
HONG KONG — An unmanned, oval-shaped craft from flying taxi maker EHang hovers, whirring noisily like a mini-helicopter over a riverside innovation zone on the outskirts of the southern Chinese business hub of Guangzhou, part of a trial of a mini-flying taxi that once might have been found only in sci-fi films.
In nearby Shenzhen, food-delivery drones already are part of daily life and a novelty attraction for tourists, even if such services cost more. In the waterfront park surrounded by high-rises, Polish tourist Karolina Trzciańska and her friends ordered bubble tea and lemon tea by phone, just to give it a try. Their drinks arrived via a drone buzzing through the drizzle about 30 minutes later.
“This is the first time I’m seeing something like this, so it was super fun to see the food being delivered by the drone,” she said.
Such businesses are growing quickly with support from the government, though the take off of the so-called “low-altitude economy” faces obstacles such as strict airspace controls and battery limitations.
Activities in airspace below 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet) accounted for business turnover worth 506 billion yuan ($70 billion) in 2023, about 0.4% of China’s economy. By 2035, it’s expected to hit 3.5 trillion yuan (about $490 billion), said Zhang Xiaolan, a researcher at the State Information Center, a think tank affiliated with China’s main planning agency.
Guangdong province, home to drone giant DJI with an estimated 70% of the global commercial drone market, leads in development of the low-altitude economy, followed by wealthy eastern coastal provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang, near Shanghai, according to a report by a research unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and other institutions.
Other big players in Guangdong include EHang, logistics company SF Express’s drone arm Phoenix Wings, and automaker XPENG’s flying car unit ARIDGE.
In October, Guangdong announced it plans to speed up construction of flight service stations and platforms to facilitate airspace operations and will support locally issued discount vouchers for low-altitude tourism.
Its technology and financial hub Shenzhen has launched a 15-million-yuan ($2.1 million) award for companies that earn certifications required for passenger eVTOLs, short for “electric vertical take-off and landing” vehicles that lift off the ground like helicopters, among other incentives.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration has granted certificates allowing EHang to offer commercial passenger services with its pilotless eVTOL, a low-altitude aircraft that can reach speeds of 130 kph (81 mph) with a maximum range of 30 kilometers (19 miles).
EHang hasn’t launched commercial routes, but its vice president, He Tianxing, says it aims to start with aerial sightseeing services. The company has been building takeoff and landing sites in 20 Chinese cities over the past two years. He expects aircraft of various companies will be flying multiple routes, possibly after five years.
He envisions eventual citywide networks using the rooftops of malls, schools and parks as terminals.
“It can’t just be a research product, nor an engineer’s toy,” he said.
The biggest challenge for developing eVTOL aircraft is maintaining longer flights and overcoming battery capacity limitations, said Guo Liming, co-founder of Shenzhen-based Skyevtol, whose single-seat manned eVTOL aircraft, priced at around $100,000, can only fly 20 to 30 minutes before it must be charged.
It also has not all been smooth skies.
In September, two XPENG’s eVTOL aircraft collided after a rehearsal for an exhibition and one of them caught fire while landing. The company said no one was hurt, but another expo canceled flying demonstrations a week later.
Undeterred, XPENG has continued to showcase its flying cars, including a six-wheeled ground vehicle with a detachable eVTOL aircraft. Having invested over $600 million, the company said it has more than 7,000 global orders for its “Land Aircraft Carrier” and has begun preparing for mass production.
A trial run of sightseeing flights in Dunhuang, a key ancient Silk Road destination famous for its Buddhist caves and dunes, is planned for next July.
It’s unclear how quickly such aircraft might begin carrying paid passengers regularly. Some companies elsewhere have burned through their funding before reaching the commercial launch stage. In Germany, air taxi makers Lilium and Volocopter filed for bankruptcy, though the latter was later bought by Diamond Aircraft Group, a subsidiary of a Chinese firm.
After years of commercialization, drone applications are not that widespread in China.
Even though the country leads in drone technology and manufacturing, policy constraints including limited airspace access, may mean overseas markets are more promising, said Frank Zhou, managing director at GBA Low Altitude Technology Co., which provides technological software to clients.
“Perhaps for some Southeast Asian countries, if I introduce these applications to them, their demand could explode,” he said.
Less than one-third of China’s low-altitude airspace was accessible for general aviation use in 2023 and there were problems with uneven distribution and a lack of internet connectivity, Zhang, the State Information Center researcher, said in a report. The number of registered general aviation aerodromes in China, excluding private airports, was just about a tenth of those in the U.S., she said.
Chinese policymakers are gradually working to close the gap. The military generally commands use of most Chinese airspace but has pledged to simplify approval procedures and shorten review times in Shenzhen and five other provinces.
Proposed revisions of the civil aviation law include a chapter on development and promotion of civilian activities, addressing low-altitude airspace allocation and supervision.
It’s still early days, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking.
He expects progress toward commercialization to materialize around 2030, with passenger-carrying eVTOLs for tourism or industrial purposes starting before flying taxi services. Some of the aerial products could become key exports, he said.
China is a latecomer to the industry but now leads in developing small drones and low-altitude airspace investments, said Chen Wen-hua, director at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Research Centre for Low Altitude Economy.
One advantage is the ruling Communist Party’s ability to mobilize regulators, industry players and universities to work toward the same goal, he said. But development of the technologies involved and safety concerns and public acceptance will determine how quickly different applications of drones and low-flying vehicles are adopted.
The future for the low altitude economy is bright, Chen said, “however, the road leading to that bright future might be treacherous.”
____
Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
-
Takeoff of China’s flying taxis hits turbulence
HONG KONG — An unmanned, oval-shaped craft from flying taxi maker EHang hovers, whirring noisily like a mini-helicopter over a riverside innovation zone on the outskirts of the southern Chinese business hub of Guangzhou, part of a trial of a mini-flying taxi that once might have been found only in sci-fi films.
In nearby Shenzhen, food-delivery drones already are part of daily life and a novelty attraction for tourists, even if such services cost more. In the waterfront park surrounded by high-rises, Polish tourist Karolina Trzciańska and her friends ordered bubble tea and lemon tea by phone, just to give it a try. Their drinks arrived via a drone buzzing through the drizzle about 30 minutes later.
“This is the first time I’m seeing something like this, so it was super fun to see the food being delivered by the drone,” she said.
Such businesses are growing quickly with support from the government, though the take off of the so-called “low-altitude economy” faces obstacles such as strict airspace controls and battery limitations.
Activities in airspace below 1,000 meters (about 3,280 feet) accounted for business turnover worth 506 billion yuan ($70 billion) in 2023, about 0.4% of China’s economy. By 2035, it’s expected to hit 3.5 trillion yuan (about $490 billion), said Zhang Xiaolan, a researcher at the State Information Center, a think tank affiliated with China’s main planning agency.
Guangdong province, home to drone giant DJI with an estimated 70% of the global commercial drone market, leads in development of the low-altitude economy, followed by wealthy eastern coastal provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang, near Shanghai, according to a report by a research unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and other institutions.
Other big players in Guangdong include EHang, logistics company SF Express’s drone arm Phoenix Wings, and automaker XPENG’s flying car unit ARIDGE.
In October, Guangdong announced it plans to speed up construction of flight service stations and platforms to facilitate airspace operations and will support locally issued discount vouchers for low-altitude tourism.
Its technology and financial hub Shenzhen has launched a 15-million-yuan ($2.1 million) award for companies that earn certifications required for passenger eVTOLs, short for “electric vertical take-off and landing” vehicles that lift off the ground like helicopters, among other incentives.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration has granted certificates allowing EHang to offer commercial passenger services with its pilotless eVTOL, a low-altitude aircraft that can reach speeds of 130 kph (81 mph) with a maximum range of 30 kilometers (19 miles).
EHang hasn’t launched commercial routes, but its vice president, He Tianxing, says it aims to start with aerial sightseeing services. The company has been building takeoff and landing sites in 20 Chinese cities over the past two years. He expects aircraft of various companies will be flying multiple routes, possibly after five years.
He envisions eventual citywide networks using the rooftops of malls, schools and parks as terminals.
“It can’t just be a research product, nor an engineer’s toy,” he said.
The biggest challenge for developing eVTOL aircraft is maintaining longer flights and overcoming battery capacity limitations, said Guo Liming, co-founder of Shenzhen-based Skyevtol, whose single-seat manned eVTOL aircraft, priced at around $100,000, can only fly 20 to 30 minutes before it must be charged.
It also has not all been smooth skies.
In September, two XPENG’s eVTOL aircraft collided after a rehearsal for an exhibition and one of them caught fire while landing. The company said no one was hurt, but another expo canceled flying demonstrations a week later.
Undeterred, XPENG has continued to showcase its flying cars, including a six-wheeled ground vehicle with a detachable eVTOL aircraft. Having invested over $600 million, the company said it has more than 7,000 global orders for its “Land Aircraft Carrier” and has begun preparing for mass production.
A trial run of sightseeing flights in Dunhuang, a key ancient Silk Road destination famous for its Buddhist caves and dunes, is planned for next July.
It’s unclear how quickly such aircraft might begin carrying paid passengers regularly. Some companies elsewhere have burned through their funding before reaching the commercial launch stage. In Germany, air taxi makers Lilium and Volocopter filed for bankruptcy, though the latter was later bought by Diamond Aircraft Group, a subsidiary of a Chinese firm.
After years of commercialization, drone applications are not that widespread in China.
Even though the country leads in drone technology and manufacturing, policy constraints including limited airspace access, may mean overseas markets are more promising, said Frank Zhou, managing director at GBA Low Altitude Technology Co., which provides technological software to clients.
“Perhaps for some Southeast Asian countries, if I introduce these applications to them, their demand could explode,” he said.
Less than one-third of China’s low-altitude airspace was accessible for general aviation use in 2023 and there were problems with uneven distribution and a lack of internet connectivity, Zhang, the State Information Center researcher, said in a report. The number of registered general aviation aerodromes in China, excluding private airports, was just about a tenth of those in the U.S., she said.
Chinese policymakers are gradually working to close the gap. The military generally commands use of most Chinese airspace but has pledged to simplify approval procedures and shorten review times in Shenzhen and five other provinces.
Proposed revisions of the civil aviation law include a chapter on development and promotion of civilian activities, addressing low-altitude airspace allocation and supervision.
It’s still early days, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking.
He expects progress toward commercialization to materialize around 2030, with passenger-carrying eVTOLs for tourism or industrial purposes starting before flying taxi services. Some of the aerial products could become key exports, he said.
China is a latecomer to the industry but now leads in developing small drones and low-altitude airspace investments, said Chen Wen-hua, director at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Research Centre for Low Altitude Economy.
One advantage is the ruling Communist Party’s ability to mobilize regulators, industry players and universities to work toward the same goal, he said. But development of the technologies involved and safety concerns and public acceptance will determine how quickly different applications of drones and low-flying vehicles are adopted.
The future for the low altitude economy is bright, Chen said, “however, the road leading to that bright future might be treacherous.”
____
Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
-
In Devastating Essay, Tatiana Schlossberg calls out RFK Jr’s Cuts to Cancer Research
Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, announced in an essay published Saturday that she has been diagnosed with an incurable form of acute myeloid leukemia. She was diagnosed at age 34, after a routine blood draw performed following the May 2024 birth of her daughter revealed unusual results. Writing for the New Yorker, she says that in the months since, she’s undergone chemotherapy, a bone-marrow transplant, stem cell treatment, and a clinical trial for a new form of immunotherapy—many of these the result of federally supported cancer research, which her second cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., slashed following his confirmation earlier this year.
As Vanity Fair and others have reported, RFK Jr. lost the support of his family as he campaigned against vaccines and for president last year. As Joe Hagan reported for VF in 2024, his siblings were “furious” and “heartbroken” over his candidacy. Following the presidential election, his sister Caroline Kennedy, who has long shied away from public discussion of family matters, penned a damning letter to the Senate opposing his confirmation as the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
According to a paper published last week in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, RFK Jr. oversaw funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health that shut down nearly 1 out of every 30 clinical trials currently underway, many involving cancer treatments. In his role as HHS head, RFK Jr. has also expressed interest in firing the entire United States Preventive Services Task Force—a panel that advocates for cancer screenings—for being “too woke,” reports ABC News. And perhaps most significantly, the longtime vaccine critic announced in August that all mRNA vaccine development would cease, even though they are widely believed to be the next frontier in eradicating a multitude of chronic and fatal diseases, including cancer.
In an August op-ed for the Utah News Dispatch cancer survivor and physician Brian Moench took Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to task, saying he is “slamming the door on the survival chances of millions of cancer victims.” One of those people, Natalie Phelps, tells CBS News that her participation in a clinical trial for treatment of Stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer has been delayed due to the cuts. “I have endured so much, and now I have another hurdle just because of funding cuts?” Phelps says. “When is cancer political?”
It’s not just cancer that’s become politicized under Kennedy. The HHS head has also opposed use of anti-depressants, falsely claiming that their use has been linked to school shootings. He fired all the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, and last week told the New York Times that he “he personally instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to abandon its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism,” infuriating doctors including Republican Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to confirm RFK Jr. as HHS head only after Kennedy said he would not remove language from the CDC website debunking the disproven link between vaccinations and the disorder. Meanwhile, he’s continued to publicly misrepresent chronic disease rates in the US and oversaw mass firings at the FDA of experts tasked with the regulation of food and drug companies.
Eve Batey
Source link
