The flu shot looks different this year, thanks to the pandemic.

The flu shot looks different this year, thanks to the pandemic.

Thanks to safety cautions from the COVID-19 pandemic, a strain of influenza has been completely eliminated.

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If you were one of the millions who masked up, washed your hands thoroughly and socially distanced, pat yourself on the back—you may have helped change the course of human history.

Scientists say that thanks to these safety precautions, which were introduced in early 2020 as a way to stop transmission of the novel COVID-19 virus, a strain of influenza has been completely eliminated. This marks the first time in human history that a virus has been wiped out through non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as vaccines.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.

Artificial Intelligence is getting better than humans at detecting breast cancer

A recent study in The Lancet Oncology showed that AI found 20 percent more cancers on mammogram screens than radiologists alone.

The Lancet Oncology

Since the early 2000s, AI systems have eliminated more than 1.7 million jobs, and that number will only increase as AI improves. Some research estimates that by 2025, AI will eliminate more than 85 million jobs.

But for all the talk about job security, AI is also proving to be a powerful tool in healthcare—specifically, cancer detection. One recently published study has shown that, remarkably, artificial intelligence was able to detect 20 percent more cancers in imaging scans than radiologists alone.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.

Here's how one doctor overcame extraordinary odds to help create the birth control pill
National Science Foundation

Dr. Percy Julian had so many personal and professional obstacles throughout his life, it’s amazing he was able to accomplish anything at all. But this hidden figure not only overcame these incredible obstacles, he also laid the foundation for the creation of the birth control pill.

Julian’s first obstacle was growing up in the Jim Crow-era south in the early part of the twentieth century, where racial segregation kept many African-Americans out of schools, libraries, parks, restaurants, and more. Despite limited opportunities and education, Julian was accepted to DePauw University in Indiana, where he majored in chemistry. But in college, Julian encountered another obstacle: he wasn’t allowed to stay in DePauw’s student housing because of segregation. Julian found lodging in an off-campus boarding house that refused to serve him meals. To pay for his room, board, and food, Julian waited tables and fired furnaces while he studied chemistry full-time. Incredibly, he graduated in 1920 as valedictorian of his class.

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Sarah Watts

Sarah Watts is a health and science writer based in Chicago.