Purer fentanyl won’t solve the U.S. overdose death crisis, study says
The newsletter leads with a study's conclusion that purer fentanyl will not solve the U.S. overdose death crisis, then turns to a report on the FDA's continuing staffing crisis. In April 2025, Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service cut 3,500 workers from the agency and triggered a broader staff exodus. More than a year later the FDA is trying to add more than 2,000 employees back but cannot, because of the same DOGE cuts: the push to centralize what were once individual human resources offices has backfired, creating bottlenecks and confusion, leaving hundreds of prospective hires stuck in pre-onboarding limbo and routine administrative work such as purchase approvals and travel payments neglected. An agency spokesperson deflected questions about the paralysis by highlighting hiring efforts, but multiple employees told STAT's Margaret Manto a different story.
Another item describes a mouse whose brain is half-human by volume. Building on advances in growing miniature, three-dimensional "cerebral organoids" from human stem cells to study brain development and disease, a Stanford University group grew these cell clusters inside mice missing chunks of their own brain. Across memory and motor tests, the neuro-chimeric mice performed about the same as normal mice, but hours of open field observations revealed something totally different. The piece examines both the scientific utility and the ethical implications of these animals.
A third item covers two days of Senate hearings on Chris Klomp, the senior federal health official nominated to be Kennedy's second-in-command at HHS. Senators repeatedly asked whether he would stand up to the health secretary, particularly on Trump and Kennedy's vaccine policy changes, which have coincided with measles outbreaks across several states and multiple deaths in Pennsylvania. Klomp, described as a famously thrifty technology entrepreneur, has already been a major figure in the Trump administration as Medicare director and then chief counselor to Kennedy, negotiating deals with pharmaceutical companies and acting as liaison between HHS and the White House.
The newsletter closes with a photograph of twin girls, Hiyab and Wuhbto, born in Ethiopia in 2024 with conjoined skulls — a real image, not AI-generated.