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Yesterday, I read about some new research that tickled me — a recent paper that found beehives function as a kind of “living immune system.” Beeswax, honey, and pollen each possess their own particular antimicrobial and chemical properties that, taken together, repel disease and encourage helpful fungi.
Yet another example of the incredible systems that keep living creatures healthy. Speaking of which, today we’ve got some interesting modeling on how the changes to the hep B vaccine could play out, a new study on vaccines and politics and a big number on menopause. Read on!
Finally, a concrete assessment of how voters feel about trans rights and abortion access
A measure to prohibit transgender youth from participating in school sports teams aligned with their gender identities. A repeal of one state’s near-total ban on abortions. And legislation to reverse marijuana legalization.
These are some of the health-related ballot initiatives facing voters this November. As STAT’s Theresa Gaffney and Isa Cueto write: “State ballot measures on contentious health care issues like transgender rights and abortion access will provide a concrete view of how voters across the U.S. regard these matters two years into the Trump administration.” They also note surprisingly few measures on issues central to the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Read up on the politics of health measures this year. And check out our new midterms page for the latest on health and science this election season.
Headway retreats from new provider agreement after backlash
Headway has paused the rollout of a new agreement with its mental health providers that would have granted the company “perpetual” use of their names, images, likenesses, and more.
The pause came after the company, which helps patients find therapists who take their insurance, received a lot of pushback from its network of 65,000 mental health providers. Many of them took to Reddit to decry the changes, fearing that the company would use their content to create AI therapists that would replace them.
CEO Andrew Adams sent out an email on Friday, saying, “We sent out an updated Provider Agreement yesterday, and a lot of you wrote back, understandably. It was very reasonably interpreted in ways we never intended. This isn’t our standard, and I take responsibility.”
It’s the latest hiccup for Headway, which also faced pushback earlier this year with its decision to require biometric verification from patients and providers. The platform has exploded in recent years on a promise to improve patients’ access to in-network therapists. – O. Rose Broderick
How changes to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule could affect infection rates
Last year, the Trump administration shook up the hepatitis B vaccine schedule, ending its recommendation for a universal dose at birth. New research suggests this shift could lead to a jump in chronic hepatitis B infections among children.
Experts at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School built a model to compare the birth dose to vaccination at two months, as well as to a shared decision making conversation at two months. They found that moving to those practices could increase chronic infections acquired by age 20 by 19% or 83%, respectively. Read the full study here.
‘You can see’ … what exactly?
Tyler Shultz became famous for blowing the whistle on Theranos. As he writes in a new First Opinion, “I’ve had the displeasure of watching disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes at work not just over a three-hour film, but over the entirety of my adult life. I was an employee turned whistleblower at Theranos, my grandfather sat on her board, she came to my family holidays and birthday parties. I met her when I was 20, she went to prison when I was 32.”
So suffice it to say Shultz went into the new Holmes documentary with some baggage. And he came out feeling like Nathan Fielder may have been a bit played: “A documentary is a form of journalism meant to discover and reveal the truth. ‘You Can See Everything,’ which follows Elizabeth soon before she heads to prison for fraud, is a piece of art with the intent of creating ambiguity.” Read more on what Fielder missed here.
15.6%
In 2025, nearly half of American women between 40 and 60 reported at least one symptom of menopause, such as hot flashes, insomnia, or night sweats. Of that group, 15.6% are taking prescription medications to manage symptoms, according to new CDC data.
That finding squares with other recent reporting that suggests only a small percentage of women “who could benefit from treatment are receiving them.” A September Gallup poll found that just 25% of U.S. women even feel they understand menopause treatment options. (Relatedly, President Trump signed an executive order on women’s health yesterday; you can read about it via Elizabeth Cooney here.)
Vaccine hesitancy isn’t primarily about partisanship
We tend to talk about trust in science in partisan terms. Recent surveys featured in this newsletter have found Democrats believe more strongly that vaccines are safe and effective, and Republicans are often more skeptical.
A new study, however, complicates that narrative. Research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center analyzed 2024 survey data and found that broader perceptions of science and scientists are much more strongly correlated to vaccine uptake than partisan differences.
The exception? The Covid-19 vaccine. “With MMR and flu, views of science and scientists largely explain the partisan gap in perceptions of vaccines,” lead author Dror Walter said in a press release. “With Covid-19 they don’t. Something beyond how people see science and scientists is shaping how Democrats and Republicans judge that vaccine.” Though researchers don’t come to any firm conclusions, they suggest that fears about scientist bias help explain this exception.
What we’re reading
- The evolution of the human brain set it up for failure, The Atlantic
- From the archives: I was a Theranos whistleblower. Here’s what I think Elizabeth Holmes is up to, STAT
- Treating depression during pregnancy may benefit baby’s brain development, The Conversation
- Resident physicians may lose some of their most important work hour protections, STAT