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Received yesterday — 13 February 2026

RFK Jr. Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schools

✇NYT: Science
By:Christina Jewett
13 February 2026 at 05:02
Proponents of vaccines warn that the efforts will further dismantle the immunization infrastructure and lead to more outbreaks of disease.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times

An empty classroom at the high school in Williston, N.D., during an outbreak of measles there last year.
Received before yesterday

Trump Repeals Key Greenhouse Gas Finding, Erasing EPA’s Power to Fight Climate Change

✇NYT: Science
By:Lisa Friedman
13 February 2026 at 09:27
The Environmental Protection Agency rejected the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

© Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Rigorous scientific findings since 2009 have shown that greenhouse gases and global warming are harming public health.

What to Know About the E.P.A.’s Big Attack on Climate Regulation

✇NYT: Science
By:Lisa Friedman and Maxine Joselow
13 February 2026 at 21:03
The Trump administration has repealed the scientific determination that underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change.

© Jenny Kane/Associated Press

E.P.A. administrator Lee Zeldin has claimed that previous administrations used the endangerment finding to justify “trillions of dollars” in regulations on polluting industries and its reversal will help the economy.

Trump Orders Dept. of Defense to Buy Electricity From Coal Sources

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer
11 February 2026 at 18:11
Mr. Trump is trying to revive coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. At the White House, coal executives awarded him a trophy as the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.”

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

President Trump signed an executive order. On the desk beside him is a trophy labeled “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.”

F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine

✇NYT: Science
By:Christina Jewett and Rebecca Robbins
10 February 2026 at 21:49
The vaccine maker’s shots involve the successful Covid vaccines’ RNA technology. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has broadly rejected it, canceling millions of dollars in research projects.

© Brian Snyder/Reuters

Moderna is a pioneer in using mRNA technology, first with the Covid vaccine. Its flu shot was being developed for people 50 and older.

Newly Unbound, Trump Weighs More Nuclear Arms and Underground Tests

✇NYT: Science
By:David E. Sanger and William J. Broad
9 February 2026 at 18:46
It remains to be seen whether the three big nuclear powers are headed into a new arms race, or whether President Trump is trying to spur negotiations on a new accord now that a last Cold War treaty has expired.

© U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, via Associated Press

An underground atomic test at the Nevada Test Site near Yucca Flats in 1955. The last U.S. explosive test of a nuclear weapon was in 1992.

TrumpRx: What to Know About Insurance Benefits, Pricing and Savings

✇NYT: Science
By:Rebecca Robbins
6 February 2026 at 13:18
People may be able to pay less for prescriptions with their insurance rather than via the new government website. The Trump drugstore is meant to help people buy medications using their own money.

© Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

President Trump; Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid; and Joe Gebbia, who oversees the design of government websites, unveiled TrumpRx at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Thursday.

TrumpRx, the President’s Online Drugstore, Opens for Business

✇NYT: Science
By:Rebecca Robbins and Margot Sanger-Katz
6 February 2026 at 03:57
TrumpRx is aimed at helping patients use their own money to buy medicines. But researchers who study drug pricing warned that many patients could pay too much if they use the site.

© Eric Thayer/Getty Images

The TrumpRx website is meant to be an entry point for consumers to search for their medicines and then direct them to manufacturers’ websites to buy the drugs directly.

Trump Administration Is Delaying Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer and Rebecca F. Elliott
4 February 2026 at 17:01
Federal agencies are delaying approvals for renewable energy projects on both federal land and private property at a time when electricity demand is going up.

© Simon Simard for The New York Times

The Trump administration has been halting or delaying federal approvals that were once seen as routine.

F.T.C. Settles With Express Scripts Over High Insulin Prices

✇NYT: Science
By:Rebecca Robbins and Reed Abelson
4 February 2026 at 16:40
The Trump administration announced that the company, a pharmacy benefit manager, had agreed to make significant changes to its practices.

© Sarah Holm/The Virginian-Pilot, via Associated Press

High insulin prices generated public outcry for years, though changes in the past few years have reduced patients’ costs to no more than $35 a month in most cases.

Congress Reins In Drug Middlemen in Effort to Lower Prescription Prices

✇NYT: Science
By:Reed Abelson and Rebecca Robbins
4 February 2026 at 05:00
The legislation will impose new restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers, giant companies like CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts that oversee prescription drug benefits.

© Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

Executives at the largest pharmacy benefit managers testified before a congressional committee in 2023.

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear

✇NYT: Science
By:Stephanie Nolen and Arlette Bashizi
3 February 2026 at 17:03
Parasites and infections that cause blindness and other disabilities were nearly eliminated in some countries, but drug distribution to prevent and treat them was derailed in many places in 2025 after the U.S. cut aid.

© Arlette Bashizi for The New York Times

Trump Unveils $12 Billion Critical Minerals Stockpile

✇NYT: Technology
By:Alan Rappeport and Tony Romm
2 February 2026 at 19:57
The “Project Vault” initiative is intended to reduce U.S. reliance on China for key technology components.

© Steve Marcus/Reuters

A rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, Calif. The United States is working to develop its own supply chain for critical minerals.

N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Seeks Whistle-Blower Protection

✇NYT: Science
By:Sheryl Gay Stolberg
2 February 2026 at 20:21
Jenna Norton, a National Institutes of Health employee, has been an outspoken critic of the administration’s research cuts and has been on paid leave.

© Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Jenna Norton last spring organized The Bethesda Declaration, a public letter that denounced what its authors viewed as the administration’s dismantling of the federal biomedical research apparatus.

Judge Hands Trump a Fifth Loss in His Effort to Halt Offshore Wind Projects

✇NYT: Science
By:Maxine Joselow
2 February 2026 at 16:19
The court ruled that construction can restart on a wind farm off the coast of New York State. The Trump administration had ordered work to stop in December.

© Angus Mordant for The New York Times

A staging area for Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project at the Port of Coeymans south of Albany, N.Y., in 2024.

The Tech Arsenal That ICE Has Deployed in Minneapolis

✇NYT: Technology
By:Sheera Frenkel and Aaron Krolik
31 January 2026 at 13:15
Agents use facial recognition, social media monitoring and other tech tools not only to identify undocumented immigrants but also to track protesters, current and former officials said.

© Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu, via Getty Images

A Border Patrol Agent scanning the face of a driver in Minneapolis this month.

S.E.C. Drops Case Against Cryptocurrency Firm Founded by Winklevoss Twins

✇NYT: Technology
By:Ben Protess and Sharon LaFraniere
23 January 2026 at 18:35
The agency says that victims of an investment offering involving Gemini Trust got their money back, though after a regulatory action brought by the New York attorney general.

© Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss at a digital assets summit at the White House last March.

U.S. Automakers’ Foreign Troubles Now Extend to Canada

✇NYT: Technology
By:Jack Ewing
24 January 2026 at 05:01
U.S. trade policy has devastated the Canadian auto industry and pushed the country to reach an agreement that will make it easier for Chinese companies to sell cars there.

© Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Canada could serve as an important test market for Chinese automakers, like Geely, which is producing vehicles at a plant in Hangzhou, China.

Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional, Rejecting Decades of Science

✇NYT: Science
By:Apoorva Mandavilli
23 January 2026 at 20:15
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who leads the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said a person’s right to refuse a vaccine outweighed concerns about illness or death from infectious diseases.

© Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who leads the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, speaking at a meeting of the committee in Chamblee, Ga., in September.

Big Insurers Try to Shift Blame for High Health Costs to Hospitals and Drug Makers

✇NYT: Science
By:Reed Abelson
22 January 2026 at 18:28
At two congressional hearings, lawmakers slammed executives of major companies, saying they were failing to rein in the cost of medical care for consumers.

© Kylie Cooper/Reuters

Stephen Hemsley, chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, left, defended insurers’ practices, along with other companies’ executives, during congressional hearings on Thursday.

Energy Dept. Says It Is Canceling $30 Billion in Clean Energy Loans

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer
22 January 2026 at 17:41
Many of the cancellations had been known for months, but the announcement underscored the drastic change in the energy landscape under President Trump.

© Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times

The Energy Department canceled a partial loan guarantee to Sunnova Energy, a residential solar panel installer that was experimenting with a novel way to link home solar and battery systems.

Trump Administration Cuts Off Funding for Fetal Tissue Research. Again.

✇NYT: Science
By:Roni Caryn Rabin
22 January 2026 at 16:10
The prohibition halts support for projects both inside and outside the N.I.H. President Biden had restored funding after an earlier ban by President Trump during his first term.

© Eric Lee/The New York Times

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, said that the agency will look to make additional investments in “validated emerging technologies” that could “reduce or potentially replace reliance on human embryonic stem cells.”

What’s a Human Life Worth? The E.P.A. Says Zero Dollars.

✇NYT: Science
By:Maxine Joselow
21 January 2026 at 05:03
The Environmental Protection Agency has stopped estimating the dollar value of lives saved in the cost-benefit analyses for new pollution rules.

© Bettmann/Getty Images

Los Angeles smog in 1979. For decades, government agencies have used a theoretical value of human life when calculating the costs and benefits of new regulations.

Virginia Coastal Offshore Wind Project Can Continue, Judge Rules

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer
16 January 2026 at 15:58
Construction can continue on an $11.2 billion project off the coast of Virginia, said to be 70 percent complete.

© Steve Helber/Associated Press

Wind turbine components at a staging area for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in Portsmouth, Va., last month.

Trump and States Aim to Stop A.I. From Inflating Energy Bills

✇NYT: Technology
By:Tony Romm
16 January 2026 at 14:54
Demand from centers that power artificial intelligence has driven up electricity bills, frustrating consumers.

© Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times

A nationwide spike in electricity costs is being driven by the construction of data centers that power artificial intelligence.

Empire Wind Project Can Resume Construction, Judge Rules

✇NYT: Science
By:Lisa Friedman
16 January 2026 at 12:14
A federal judge said the Empire Wind project off Long Island would suffer “irreparable harm” if the Trump administration continued to hold up work.

© Equinor, via Reuters

The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the staging site for the Empire Wind offshore wind project.

For the World’s Food Supply, Federal Funding Cuts Have Long-Term Impacts

✇NYT: Science
By:Ted Alcorn
15 January 2026 at 11:07
The U.S. Agency for International Development has been a major supporter of global agriculture research. Now many studies are being scuttled or scaled back.

© Taylor Glascock for The New York Times

Brian Diers was employed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign soybean “innovation lab” before it was shuttered. Now he works with soybean plants on a volunteer basis.

U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments

✇NYT: Science
By:Stephanie Nolen
15 January 2026 at 10:59
The Trump administration has signed $11 billion in agreements with African nations, in deals tied to foreign policy goals.

© Gulshan Khan for The New York Times

A health clinic in Mhlosheni, Eswatini, in May. Health funding from the U.S. to Eswatini — where a quarter of adults live with H.I.V. — would drop by 34 percent under the new agreement between the two countries.

Coinbase, the Biggest U.S. Crypto Company, Asserts Its Power in Washington

✇NYT: Technology
By:David Yaffe-Bellany
15 January 2026 at 14:00
The top executive of the crypto exchange Coinbase scuttled a planned Senate committee vote on a major cryptocurrency bill after voicing his concerns, a sign of the company’s clout.

© Karsten Moran for The New York Times

A planned vote on a cryptocurrency bill on Thursday was canceled after Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s chief executive, objected to the measure in a social media post on Wednesday evening.

Trump Imposes Limited Tariffs on Foreign Semiconductors

✇NYT: Technology
By:Ana Swanson and Tripp Mickle
14 January 2026 at 21:06
The tariffs will allow President Trump to take a cut of Nvidia’s chip sales to China while putting off a decision about imposing higher taxes on the chip industry.

© Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Much of the chip industry relies on materials from overseas.

E.P.A. Moves to Limit States’ Ability to Block Pipelines

✇NYT: Science
By:Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman
13 January 2026 at 14:08
The agency wants to curtail a section of the Clean Water Act that Democratic governors have used to restrict fossil fuel development.

© Paul Ratje for The New York Times

A gas pipeline under construction near Amarillo, Texas, in November.

Medical Groups Sue to Block Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

✇NYT: Science
By:Apoorva Mandavilli
19 January 2026 at 19:33
The groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say the C.D.C.’s revised vaccine schedule is not based on scientific evidence and will harm the public.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

Bypassing longstanding protocol for vaccine decisions, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Health Department cut the number of vaccines recommended for children to 11 from 17.

Microsoft Pledges to Pay More for Electricity, Drawing Praise From Trump

✇NYT: Technology
By:Karen Weise
13 January 2026 at 11:21
The tech giant is responding to concerns that data centers are driving up electricity costs in some communities.

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said the company wanted to avoid affecting other electricity customers.

U.S. Emissions Jumped in 2025 as Coal Power Rebounded

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer
13 January 2026 at 05:02
The increase in planet-warming emissions came after two years of decline as demand for electricity has been surging.

© Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

A coal-fired power plant near Emmett, Kan. Demand for power has started surging in recent years amid a boom in data centers, an upswing of domestic manufacturing and the spread of electric vehicles.

Trump Cuts to Energy Projects in Blue States Were Unlawful, Judge Rules

✇NYT: Science
By:Brad Plumer
12 January 2026 at 17:44
The Energy Department canceled $7.5 billion in Biden-era energy spending, largely in Democratic-led states, during last year’s government shutdown.

© Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The cuts were part of a larger effort by the Energy Department to cancel spending for projects like hydrogen fuel hubs, electrical grid upgrades and efforts to reduce methane leaks.

Trump Administration Nears Trade Deal With Taiwan

✇NYT: Technology
By:Ana Swanson and Tripp Mickle
12 January 2026 at 12:31
The deal would cut tariffs and include a commitment from Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, the island’s chip giant, to build more manufacturing plants in the United States.

© Loren Elliott for The New York Times

A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation facility under construction in Phoenix. As part of the trade deal, the company would commit to building more semiconductor facilities in Arizona.
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