The presence of microplastics in semen and follicular fluid were not entirely unexpected. But the lead research author added: “What did surprise us, however, is how widespread it is. This is not an isolated finding — it appears to be quite common.” Plus: hormone therapy and breast cancer; antibiotic resistance in cow manure; and more.
CNN:
Microplastics Found In Human Semen And Follicular Fluid
Scientists have detected microplastics — the tiny and pervasive fragments now found in our seas, drinking water, food and, increasingly, living tissue — in human semen and follicular fluid, according to new research. (Rogers, 7/1)
MedPage Today:
Some Hormone Therapies Linked To Young-Onset Breast Cancer
While use of estrogen hormone therapy was inversely associated with young-onset breast cancer, estrogen/progestin hormone therapy was linked to a higher incidence among certain subgroups, according to a pooled cohort analysis. (Bassett, 7/1)
CIDRAP:
Livestock Manure Contains Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Posing Health Threat, Global Study Finds
Livestock manure around the globe is packed with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that could threaten human health, according to a new study in Science Advances. The study was published by Chinese and US researchers, who sampled 4,017 manure specimens from pigs, chickens, and cattle in 26 countries over 14 years. Overall, the searchers found a substantial reservoir of known (2,291 subtypes) and latent ARGs (3,166 subtypes). The detections conferred potential resistance to 30 antibiotic classes. (Soucheray, 7/1)
Fox News:
Study Links Frequent Daytime Napping To Higher Mortality In Older Adults
A new study linking daytime napping to increased mortality rates in older adults may have some rethinking that midday snooze. The study, presented last month at SLEEP 2025, the 39th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle, Washington, found that frequent, longer and irregular daytime naps — especially in the early afternoon — were linked to a higher risk of death over an eight-year period. (Quill, 7/1)
KFF Health News:
Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’ – KFF Health News
Jackie Fortiér reads the week’s news: Gatherings called “memory cafés” can help both people with dementia and their caregivers reduce depression and isolation, and the looming end of some Affordable Care Act subsidies will make ACA plans much more expensive. … Zach Dyer reads the week’s news: Cannabis use could be riskier for older adults, and research shows covid vaccines in pregnancy can protect pregnant women as well as newborns. (7/1)
On food and nutrition —
Axios:
Does Grilling Increase Cancer Risk? It Can, Especially In Hot Dogs
Only 20% of Americans understand grilled meats’ link to cancer, according to an American Institute for Cancer Research survey. Grilling meats — including hot dogs, chicken and fish — can create potential carcinogens, including heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Plus, hot dogs themselves were declared carcinogens in 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. (May, 7/2)
Newsweek:
‘Inflammatory’ Diet During Pregnancy Linked To Child Diabetes Risk
Pregnant women who consume a diet high in inflammation-promoting foods may be increasing their child’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes, a study found. The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, suggest that an expectant mother’s diet could have long-term implications for her child’s immune health. (Gray, 7/1)
NBC News:
Can Cheese Turn Your Dreams Into Nightmares?
Dairy products might be meddling with your dreams. New research published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology surveyed sleep habits, particularly dreams, and compared them with peoples’ eating habits. One of the findings? The worse lactose intolerance symptoms people had, the more intense their nightmares were. (Srinivasan, 7/1)
Newsweek:
Eating Vegetables Might Permanently Damage Your Teeth
Packed with essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals and fiber, vegetables are at the heart of a healthy diet, with doctors recommending consuming multiple portions a day. However, while good for the body, they may not necessarily be good for the teeth. This is the conclusion of a study by researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València, in Spain, which found that plant-based diets can have a permanent, damaging effect on your tooth enamel. (Azzurra Volpe, 7/1)
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Even by the exacting standards of France’s gastronomes, it sounds like a meal that is truly out of this world. When the French astronaut Sophie Adenot travels to the International Space Station next year, she will dine on French classics such as lobster bisque, foie gras and onion soup prepared specially for her by a chef with 10 Michelin stars.
Parsnip and haddock velouté, chicken with tonka beans and creamy polenta, and a chocolate cream with hazelnut cazette flower will also be on the menu, the European Space Agency said on Wednesday.
Food delivered to the ISS must meet strict specifications. It cannot be crumbly or too heavy and must be able to be stored for two years, the agency said.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are available only when a new spacecraft arrives with supplies. So most meals in space are canned, vacuum-packed or freeze-dried from a set of options provided by space agencies.
To spice things up, one out of every 10 meals is prepared for specific crew members according to their personal tastes.
Adenot said: “During a mission, sharing our respective dishes is a way of inviting crewmates to learn more about our culture. It’s a very powerful bonding experience.”
Her menu was developed by the French chef Anne-Sophie Pic, who holds 10 Michelin stars and was named best female chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2011.
Pic said it was an “exhilarating challenge” to develop the menu, which includes four starters, two mains and two desserts.
Adenot, 42, a former helicopter test pilot, is scheduled to arrive for her first tour on the ISS in 2026.
A pair of Nasa astronauts returned to Earth in March after being unexpectedly stuck on the ISS for more than nine months because of problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
The Princess of Wales has spoken candidly about the life-changing long-term challenges of recovering after chemotherapy, as she visited a hospital in Essex.
Catherine said during treatment “you put on a sort of brave face” but afterwards it can still feel “really difficult”.
She told patients at the hospital about life after cancer treatment: “You’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to.”
It was Catherine’s first public engagement since pulling out of an appearance at Royal Ascot, when it was said she needed to find the right balance in her return to work.
In January, Catherine announced she was in remission from cancer, which had been diagnosed last year. But her latest comments are a reminder how this is a gradual path to recovery.
She said: “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment, treatment’s done – then it’s like ‘I can crack on, get back to normal’.
“But actually the phase afterwards is really difficult, you’re not necessarily under the clinical team any longer, but you’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to,” said the princess.
“But it’s life-changing for anyone, through first diagnosis or post treatment and things like that, it is life-changing experience both for the patient but also for the families as well.
“And actually it sometimes goes unrecognised, you don’t necessarily, particularly when it’s the first time, appreciate how much impact it is going to have.
“You have to find your new normal and that takes time… and it’s a rollercoaster it’s not one smooth plane, which you expect it to be. But the reality is it’s not, you go through hard times,” said Catherine.
The princess was in a conversation with a group of patients – and one told her: “It can be very discombobulating, in that time when you’ve finished active treatment.”
“Your reality has completely changed,” the patient told the princess.
Catherine talked of the need for recovery time: “There is this whole phase when you finish your treatment that you, yourself, everybody, expects you, right you’ve finished your time, go, you’re better, and that’s not the case at all.”
There had been much attention paid when the princess did not take part in an engagement at the Ascot racecourse.
But royal sources say that her comments on Tuesday will send an important message of support for other former cancer patients who are facing challenges in their own journey of recovery.
She made the comments as she visited a “well-being garden” at Colchester, which helps to use nature to support patients in their recovery from illness.
Catherine has spoken of the healing power of the natural world and how it has been a source of strength for her during her return from illness. She has described nature as her “sanctuary”.
In May, the Royal Horticultural Society launched a “Catherine’s rose”, which was sold to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, at a hospital where the princess had been treated.
There are 50 of this variety of rose that have been donated to Colchester Hospital, with the princess helping to plant the roses during her visit.
The well-being garden at the hospital is intended to provide a place to relax and recuperate for patients, recognising how nature can help people to feel better, both in their physical and mental health.
LUX-INVENTA is a European Research Council-funded project aiming to develop photomagnetic materials – photo-responsive materials that get magnetised by visible light.
The photomagnetic effect is the change of magnetic moment in response to visible light and occurs in compounds called photomagnets. It was coined by the pioneers in the field of molecular magnetism: Hashimoto, Miller, Verdaguer and Dei. Its discovery, however, is a consequence of the seminal work of Hauser et al. on the light-induced excited spin state trapping (LIESST) effect in octahedral iron(II) complexes showing spin crossover (SCO) behaviour.
The photomagnetic effect explained
The term photomagnetic effect applies to all types of magnetic systems responsive to light: diamagnetic, paramagnetic, as well as ferro- and antiferromagnetic. It relies on the observation that absorption of a photon by a specific part of a molecular system (a photomagnetic chromophore) can lead to a series of physical events resulting in a spin state change. This spin state change is directly associated with the change of the magnetisation. In other words, the construction of molecular materials based on photomagnetic chromophores results in compounds that get magnetised when exposed to visible light – the photomagnets.
Currently, photomagnets remain laboratory curiosities due to extremely low temperatures at which they operate, requiring expensive liquid helium cooling. Hence, the major objective of LUX-INVENTA is the design and synthesis of high-temperature photomagnets – paramagnetic compounds that, upon exposure to visible light, become reversibly magnetised at the highest possible temperature – preferably room temperature.
LUX-INVENTA: Advancements in photomagnetic materials
Photocrystallographic and photomagnetic studies performed within LUX-INVENTA extend beyond the current state-of-the-art. This enabled the identification of a high-performance photomagnetic chromophore: heptacyanomolybdate(III) complex anion. A complete experimental and theoretical study performed for its potassium salt revealed photoswitching in the solid state, involving an unprecedented change of the coordination sphere of the molybdenum(III) centre from a 7-coordinated capped trigonal prism to a 6-coordinated octahedron. This transformation induces a spin state and magnetisation changes, paving the way for the development of a new class of photo-switchable high-temperature magnets and nanomagnets. The manuscript has been deposited with the ChemRxiv repository.
One of the peak achievements of the LUX-INVENTA research team was the rational design and successful isolation of a completely new and yet very simple organic molecule called tripak. The unique redox properties of tripak enabled its isolation in five different valence states, accommodating up to six additional electrons. These states can be reached by applying a small electrical potential, enabling electro-switching between completely different properties: record strong anion-π binding of halides, molecular qubit behaviour, red fluorescence and chemically unique diradicaloid character. The unique combination of vastly different physical properties enclosed within a compact and elegant molecular framework of tripak makes it highly versatile for applications ranging from quantum technologies and energy storage to molecular sensing. These results were published as an open-access research article in the Cell Press journal Chem.
Moreover, the unique physico-chemical character of tripak sparked an in-depth investigation of other derivatives with similar properties and improved potential for further chemical tuning and modifications.
Significant progress: Expanding the limits
While the goal of achieving room-temperature photomagnetism has yet to be reached, the LUX-INVENTA project has already pushed the limits of photomagnets towards an applicable temperature range and demonstrated a completely new photoswitching mechanism based on a reversible photodissociation reaction occurring in the solid state.
Moreover, the search for novel organic molecules suitable for the observation of charge-transfer induced photomagnetic switching has spawned a unique and yet very simple tripak molecule, which seems to be an extremely versatile platform for the construction of completely new magnetic coordination polymers.
Acknowledgments
Publication of this article has been funded under the Strategic Programme Excellence Initiative at the Jagiellonian University.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 23rd edition of our quarterly publication.
Irreverent, bouncy and as suitable at 4am in a club as it is at 4pm in a field, the music of Fatboy Slim dovetails perfectly with Glastonbury. And the man himself, Norman Cook, seems to know it.
This year’s festival marked a big milestone: Cook has now played 100 Glasto sets – or thereabouts – over the years, popping up everywhere from vast stages to tiny tents. To document the occasion, Guardian photographer David Levene bedded in with the DJ for the weekend, while Cook explained why it holds such a special significance for him.
Bumping into Chris Moyles, and right, having his photo taken with Charley and her son Remi, 7 months, from Somerset
“We’re not doing a kind of 100th show extravaganza on the grounds that we don’t actually really know which would be the 100th. It’s not an exact science, it’s a guesstimate. Thing is, I play so many shows, and so many of them are just like impromptu that we really don’t know. So I think it’d be a bit much to really get the bells and whistles out. We think it’s the Block9 show in the afternoon tomorrow – we think! But no candles, sadly.
“I’m very, very proud of my relationship with Glastonbury and my history with it and I’m lucky, because as a DJ, you can play multiple sets. Obviously, there’s probably people who’ve been to more Glastonburys, but they’ve only played one show per festival – that’s not going to get you into big high figures.”
“My first Glasto show was on the Pyramid stage in 1986 with the Housemartins, and we didn’t know anything really about Glastonbury or festivals. We’d never played in daylight before – we only ever played in clubs – and also we thought that Glastonbury was full of bearded hippies who would probably throw mud and bottles of piss out at us. So we went on quite nervous and quite agitated, but that was quite good in the Housemartins, channelling that aggression – we had the nice tunes, but there was a lot of aggression. We made an awful lot of friends, and it changed our view about Glastonbury. The only weird thing was me and Paul [Heaton] have both had fairly successful careers, but neither of us had managed to get back on the Pyramid stage for 38 years. Last year, Paul played the Pyramid stage and he phoned me up and said, ‘Will you come on and do a song with us, just to celebrate?’”
“My favourite Glastonbury moment was playing for [Rob da Bank’s label] Sunday Best. I was four days in at that point, my mind had been expanded, altered and distorted, as was everybody’s around me. So I decided if I played a record backwards, would people dance backwards? And it was a good theory. Obviously with CDJs, you can press reverse, but with the record, you have to physically rewind it. So I played Block Rockin’ Beats, by the Chemical Brothers, pretty much at the right speed but backwards. And it worked. Everybody got the joke. It was just after Twin Peaks too, so everybody was like, dancing backwards to the music. What I forgot was that Ed from the Chemical Brothers was in the DJ booth with me, and he went, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m like, ‘I want to see if they can dance backwards.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, great!’ That’s probably the most out there I’ve ever been.”
“I loved the Rabbit Hole. It was never the same [after it closed]. Absolutely anything could happen, and sometimes it did. I much prefer the smaller stages to the big ones, but having said that, when we did the Park the other year, that felt pretty much like the perfect gig. We brought Rita Ora on – I don’t normally do showbiz-y things like that. It’s probably my favourite set.”
“My son Woody is playing here this year, and it’s just fabulous. My daughter’s here, my ex wife [Zoe Ball] is here. We’re all hanging out. It’s beautiful. Woody came to Glastonbury when he was about eight, and it didn’t go well for him or for me and Zoe. But when he started coming under his own steam, it’s weird, because we didn’t teach him anything, he just assimilated himself into the fabric of it and made all these friends the first year he went. He was built for Glastonbury: he’s just got that energy, he wants to talk to everybody, he wants to change the world. Everybody keeps telling me how cool my son is or how mental my son is, sometimes both.”
“As a festival, Glastonbury never sold out to the man. The Eavis family have kept it independent, which means they’re in charge of the way it feels and the way it looks, and people respect that. There’s nothing corporate that interferes and dictates, you know, and it’s not about making money. The music business, especially when money comes in, it distorts your creative ideas and the feel of it and it becomes a money-making machine. But the Eavis family never sold out. They don’t do it for money. They do it because they love watching this going on on their farm every year.”
“I genuinely love this place so much. I feel proud if I’m promoting the Glastonbury brand, or just being part of the furniture or just wandering around saying hello to everyone. Michael Eavis can’t get around so much any more, but I was always so impressed about the fact that he would just spend the whole festival wandering, saying hello to everyone.”
SALT LAKE CITY, July 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On Sunday, July 13, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s signature program, Music & the Spoken Word will reach a historic milestone as it airs its 5,000th episode from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Music & the Spoken Word has aired weekly since July 15, 1929 and is enjoyed by more than six million people in more than 50 countries throughout the world on radio, television, and online streaming.
“The 5,000th episode of Music & the Spoken Word represents more than longevity and international reach,” said Perry Sook, Joint-Board Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters. “It represents unwavering excellence, a commitment to public service and the enduring power of faith and music to unite us all.”
Choir President Michael O. Leavitt said, “The Choir’s mission is to perform music that inspires people throughout the world and to feel God’s love for His children. We are grateful that Music & the Spoken Word has brought hope and peace to millions around the world each week and look forward to continuing that legacy for many years to come.”
Music & the Spoken Word began in 1929, shortly before the Great Depression and has aired each subsequent week for nearly a century. The music and inspirational messages have endured through times of struggle; including through the duration of World War II, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, 9/11 and during the COVID pandemic, and through times of celebration; including the end of World War II.
“Music & the Spoken Word is a gift to the people of the world, to any who are looking for peace and solace in a world that is growing increasingly busy. It allows for a moment of peace and stillness that we all need,” said Derrick Porter, executive producer, principal writer and presenter of Music & the Spoken Word.
About The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is a world-renowned, 360-member choir credited with over 4,900 episodes of its weekly live performance of Music & the Spoken Word. The program is the longest continuing live network broadcast in history, now in its 96th year. The Choir has traveled around the world performing in acclaimed concert halls, for the inaugurations of seven U.S. presidents beginning with its first for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, at World’s Fairs and expositions, in acclaimed concert halls, on television and radio broadcasts and now internet streams, and numerous other prestigious events and occasions. The Choir has won four Emmy Awards, one Grammy Award and multiple Grammy nominations, was awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2003 and inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
Music & the Spoken Word has been awarded a Peabody Award in 1943, was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004, and into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2010. The Choir has released over 200 recordings which have earned two platinum and five gold albums and hit #1 on Billboard’s classical music charts 15 times.
The Orchestra at Temple Square is a 200-member, all-volunteer symphony orchestra organized in 1999 to perform and accompany the musical ensembles of The Tabernacle Choir organization. The Choir and Orchestra, with their incomparable medley of voices and instruments and their shared faith in God, are a significant, recognizable presence in the world of music, giving service through song. More info at https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org or by following the Choir on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
– Satellite pair to join the first eight satellites in space where they will enhance global coverage and network capacity – Equipped with advanced technology that intelligently adapts to user demands, O3b mPOWER satellites offer seamless connectivity across the globe
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., July 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing [NYSE: BA] has successfully delivered the 9th and 10th O3b mPOWER satellites to content and network provider SES, advancing the company’s effort to provide global connectivity from space. The satellites, which feature Boeing’s fully software-defined payload technology to actively allot power to meet user needs, are en route to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. for a planned launch this summer.
“The O3b mPOWER spacecraft are the most capable and flexible commercial satellites to ever operate in space,” said Michelle Parker, vice president, Boeing Space Mission Systems. “Many of us have tried to connect from an airplane or cruise ship and found the connection unreliable. Our software-defined payload technology allows SES to deliver high-speed, reliable connectivity, adapting in real-time to user demand. It’s a game changer, and the first eight satellites are showing users just how incredible this technology is.”
The O3b mPOWER system, SES’s second-generation constellation operating in medium Earth orbit (MEO, approximately 8,000 km from Earths’ surface), is designed to transform industries with terabit-level capacity, low latency, and unmatched service availability. These two spacecraft will join the first eight satellites already on orbit, further enhancing SES’s ability to deliver high-speed, reliable connectivity to its users.
Boeing teams are working closely with SES to prepare the 9th and 10th satellites for launch this summer, while Boeing team members continue production on an additional three O3b mPOWER satellites to support SES’s launch plans.
“We’re very pleased to see just how well our first-of-its-kind technology is performing in space, as we continue to iterate and evolve it for other customers and missions,” said Parker.
The underlying payload technology flying aboard O3b mPOWER is also being hardened for military use aboard the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS)-11 and WGS-12 satellites Boeing is building for the United States Space Force. Boeing’s proven software-defined technology allows for more secure and reliable connectivity, even in a contested environment.
A leading global aerospace company and top U.S. exporter, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. Our U.S. and global workforce and supplier base drive innovation, economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing is committed to fostering a culture based on our core values of safety, quality and integrity.
Contact
Zeyad Maasarani Boeing Communications +1-562-400-5533 zeyad.maasarani@boeing.com
Boeing Media Relations media@boeing.com
Suzanne Ong SES External Communications +352 710 725 500 suzanne.ong@ses.com
