Over the previous 12 months, Jim O’Neill has grow to be one of the highly effective folks in public well being. Because the US deputy well being secretary, he holds two roles on the high of the nation’s federal well being and science companies. He oversees a division with a price range of over a trillion {dollars}. And he signed the choice memorandum on the US’s deeply controversial new vaccine schedule.
He’s additionally a long life fanatic. In an unique interview with MIT Know-how Evaluate earlier this month, O’Neill described his plans to extend human healthspan by way of longevity-focused analysis supported by ARPA-H, a federal company devoted to biomedical breakthroughs. Fellow longevity fans mentioned they hope he’ll convey consideration and funding to their trigger.
On the similar time, O’Neill defended lowering the variety of broadly really useful childhood vaccines, a transfer that has been broadly criticized by consultants in medication and public well being. Learn the total story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
The parable of the high-tech heist
Making a film is quite a bit like pulling off a heist. That’s what Steven Soderbergh—director of the Ocean’s franchise, amongst different heist-y classics—mentioned just a few years in the past. You provide you with a artistic angle, put collectively a workforce of specialists, determine the right way to beat the technological challenges, rehearse, transfer with Swiss-watch precision, and—in the event you do it proper—redistribute some wealth.
However conversely, pulling off a heist isn’t very similar to the films. Surveillance cameras, computer-controlled alarms, knockout fuel, and lasers infrequently characteristic in big-ticket crime. In actuality, technical countermeasures are hardly ever an issue, and high-tech devices are hardly ever an answer. Learn the total story.
—Adam Rogers
