One Sentence News / August 7, 2023
Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Heat wave grips portions of South America in the middle of winter
Summary: High-heat records are being broken across South America, as the continent—which is in the middle of winter—has seen temperatures approaching 100 degrees F (which is nearly 38 degrees C).
Context: These temperatures, which have included a 97 degree F day in Paraguay, and 86 degree F days in Chile and Argentina (36 and 30 C, respectively) are of a kind with the larger trend of more heat extremes, globally, but it’s been amplified by the burgeoning El Niño weather pattern that brings warmer waters to the surface of the ocean, further warming up the air that passes over the continent, as well.
—The New York Times
First pill for postpartum depression is approved by FDA
Summary: The first-ever pill for postpartum depression—which affects one out of every eight new mothers in the US, according to the CDC—has been approved for use in the US by the FDA and is expected to go on sale in the country following a three-month-or-so review by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Context: This drug, which will be distributed by Sage Therapeutics and Biogen, will be sold under the brand name Zurzuvae and will be taken once per day for at least two weeks; it reportedly helps relieve depressive symptoms within days (compared to weeks or months with conventional antidepressants) and because it’s a pill it’ll be easier to take than many current options which require professionally administered infusions; postpartum depression manifests differently in everyone, but many women who face it experience intense sadness and a lack of interest in their babies, alongside disruptions to their normal day-to-day activities, and this drug has been shown to reduce these symptoms by about 55% after two weeks of treatment, the primary side effects sleepiness-related.
—The Wall Street Journal
AI offers huge promise on breast cancer screening
Summary: A team of researchers at Lund University in Sweden have found that an AI-based screening tool can assess and interpret mammograms—x-rays of patients’ breasts—for indications of cancer about as well as the standard care procedure, which involves assessment by two radiologists.
Context: For this trial, more than 80,000 women’s x-rays were divided between the AI and radiologists, with radiologists also checking the AI batch afterward, as well, to make sure nothing was missed; both groups showed approximately the same success-rate, including a typical 1.5% false-positive rate, and the lead author of the study has said that the results are very encouraging, but that we need more research before we can say for certain that AI can and should be used in this way, and what the benefits and tradeoffs of doing so would be—though some industry experts have said integrating such tools into current systems could help hospitals and other health care providers cope with often large industry shortfalls in radiologists which can delay screenings and related services.
—BBC News
Geopolitics are continuing to reorient around the materials necessary for the electrification of whole economies, which means lithium (more than most others at this point) has become a hot commodity, and nations with proven reserves have been taking a lot of meetings with big players who want to lock-in tight relationships.
—Semafor
$300 million
Fine FCC has levied against a robocalling company that has been auto-calling Americans with scams (including auto warranty-related scams) since 2018 under a variety of names.
The company placed at least five billion scam calls, so while this is a record forfeiture, it’s arguably also letting them off easy.
—TechCrunch
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