The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that it will release hundreds of millions of sterile, fluorescent New World screwworm flies along the Texas–Mexico border to maintain a barrier preventing the parasitic fly from spreading north. The move comes in response to a growing outbreak in Mexico and the serious threat the pest poses to livestock, the agricultural economy, and public health.
The full results of the first randomized controlled trial show that the use of artificial intelligence in screening mammography leads to the detection of fewer advanced and aggressive breast cancers, suggesting that AI may improve the quality of early diagnosis and potentially reduce the number of advanced-stage cases.
A US federal vaccine advisory committee has announced that it will re-assess all existing vaccination recommendations. Statements from its new chair have triggered strong reactions from the public-health community, which warns that a shift in the committee’s operating philosophy could accelerate declines in vaccination coverage and increase outbreaks of infectious diseases in the United States.
Oracle is reportedly considering cutting between 20,000 and 30,000 jobs and selling parts of its assets in order to raise funds for a rapid build-out of data-center infrastructure for artificial intelligence projects. The scale of the potential layoffs would rank among the largest in the company’s history.