Authored by: Vivian Xu Art by: Grace Liu Reproductive technologies, especially in vitro fertilization (IVF), are important to the aspiration of motherhood for millions of Americans. However, insurance coverage and access for fertility care in the U.S., particularly for reproductive services, has great disparities and varies by state, income, and race. Health insurance for IVF is key to reproductive freedom. Individuals and couples that experience infertility or require reprod

Authored by: Victoria Wroblewski Art by: Lindsey Li The United States government has changed the future of pharmaceutical drug purchasing forever. The President of the US, Donald J. Trump, has launched an official pharmacy for Americans: TrumpRX. The TrumpRX initiative formed a partnership with the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca in order to install a direct-to-customer (DTC) program through a website called TrumpRX.gov [1]. The drugs are discounted to match

Authored by: Mia Bakota Art by: Vanessa Chen Hsieh Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition. However, clinical recognition and diagnosis remain significantly skewed toward externally observable traits, leading to an invisibility problem in high-masking populations. This article reviews the evidence demonstrating that autistic masking creates a detrimental healthcare gap, resulting in profound and interconnected psychological burnout and p

Authored by: Mel Drossos Art by: Grace Liu Do some foods make you feel bloated and sluggish, while others give you an immediate boost of energy? This sensation means that your gut-brain axis is doing its job. This bi-directional communication network, in tandem with the gut lining, plays a major role in our body’s response to food. Together, they protect us from systemic inflammation by serving as strong barriers that limit toxins from overwhelming our bodies [1]. However, th

Authored by: Maya Gowda Art by: Caitlin Sweeney Our eyes can mislead us—we often view climate change as a global phenomenon affecting Earth’s biodiversity, but little is known about how climate change affects our mental health. Marginalized communities and outdoor workers face the brunt of climate change— farmers consistently experience stress due to the impacts of climate change on their physical health and agricultural productivity [1]. Climate change is one of the greatest

Authored by: Lauren Wilkes Art by: Eileen Cho As AI becomes further integrated into our society and, more specifically, into the healthcare industry, the question of how favorably AI will ultimately impact the medical field is imminent. When it comes to genome sequencing in the genetics and biomedical research fields, the latest AI software, AlphaGenome, shows extreme promise. AlphaGenome is the newest DNA sequence AI model that provides advanced functional predictions of gen

Authored by: Ariana Dahi Art by: Claire Ma What if a doctor, or even an app, could tell you exactly what to eat to become your healthiest self, all based on your biological information? The NIH is currently funding Nutrition for Precision Health  with the goal of creating diet plans tailored to participants’ unique biological makeup. To do this, researchers are examining the interactions of a variety of diets with genes, proteins, microbiomes, metabolism, and other factors. C

Authored by: Abby Chang Art by: Kenneth Li As the sun rises over Moshi, Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro appears from the morning fog like a guardian in silence. Its glaciers, long seen as symbols of East Africa's abundance, feed springs and rivers that sustain generations of farmers, families, and communities. The mountain is more than symbolic; it is a lifeline. That lifeline, however, is under strain. Rising temperatures accelerate glacial retreat, and rainfall patterns are inc