Over the previous yr, Jim O’Neill has change into one of the vital 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 funds 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 Expertise Evaluation earlier this month, O’Neill described his plans to extend human healthspan by means of longevity-focused analysis supported by ARPA-H, a federal company devoted to biomedical breakthroughs. Fellow longevity fans stated they hope he’ll deliver consideration and funding to their trigger.
On the similar time, O’Neill defended decreasing the variety of broadly advisable childhood vaccines, a transfer that has been broadly criticized by consultants in drugs and public well being. Learn the total story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
The parable of the high-tech heist
Making a film is rather a lot like pulling off a heist. That’s what Steven Soderbergh—director of the Ocean’s franchise, amongst different heist-y classics—stated a couple of years in the past. You provide you with a inventive angle, put collectively a group of specialists, determine learn how to beat the technological challenges, rehearse, transfer with Swiss-watch precision, and—in case 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 gasoline, and lasers rarely function 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
