Science & Medicine

Recent Headlines

FILE - A shopper walks past mannequins donning face masks in Los Angeles, on Dec. 7, 2020. California's COVID-19 emergency declaration ends on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Public health experts say the pandemic has not ended, but the virus is much more manageable with the availability of vaccines and other treatments. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

What you need to know to stay safe from COVID now that the public health emergency has ended

The end of the federal government’s health emergency has left COVID-conscious Americans feeling vulnerable. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself.

FDA advisory panel backs over-the-counter birth control pill

Column: How Trump’s anti-science meddling erased 3 years of crucial COVID research
AI may be on its way to your doctor’s office, but it’s not ready to see patients

On September 24, 2022, investigators from the Pasadena Police Department's Major Narcotics/Special Investigations Section seized approximately 328,000 fentanyl pills, 2 kilos of cocaine, and a ghost gun as a result of an ongoing narcotics investigation. Within the seized contraband, investigators located several packages of candy-colored fentanyl pills. This candy-colored fentanyl, dubbed "rainbow fentanyl" in the media, appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl to children and young people.

‘No child should be dying’: Fentanyl-related deaths among kids rising, Yale study says

Motorists line up to take COVID-19 tests at at Long Beach City College-Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Editorial: The COVID-19 pandemic emergency is over, but virus is still here

FILE - Glenda Starke wears a transgender flag as a counter protest during a rally in favor of a ban on gender-affirming health care legislation, March 20, 2023, at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Defying the state, Kansas City would be a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming healthcare

FILE - This undated image made available by the National Human Genome Research Institute shows the output from a DNA sequencer. The much-heralded Human Genome Project was a huge milestone for science, but most of that genetic blueprint came from one man from Buffalo, N.Y. On Wednesday, May 10, 2023, scientists announced they have sequenced the genomes of 47 people from around the world, allowing scientists to be able to look at what's normal and what's not across people and learn more about what genes do and what diseases genetic problems may cause. (NHGRI via AP, File)

‘Pangenome,’ a new DNA reference, will reflect human diversity

The bright yellow blooms of the black mustard plant.

In Southern California, everything is blooming everywhere all at once

Westwood, CA - May 11: Dr. Hannah Milch, assistant clinical professor, Department of Radiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Westwood, CA, is photographed reviewing a mammogram Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Expert panel that sparked mammogram controversy now says tests should start at 40

This Aug. 16, 2010, image provided by NASA Earth Observatory shows a piece of the Petermann Glacier that cracked in Greenland. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, May 8, 2023, found that tides and climate change are rapidly melting ice in the grounding line zone of the Petermann Glacier. That’s the point where glaciers go from being on land to floating on water. (Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon/NASA Earth Observatory via AP)

Warming-stoked tides eating huge holes in Greenland glacier

People wave from a bus after arriving in a military plane from Khartoum at the Houari-Boumediene airport in Algiers, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. An Algerian military plane evacuated 94 Algerian citizens but also Palestinians and Syrians people who lived in Sudan. Sudanese and foreigners streamed out of the capital of Khartoum and other battle zones, as fighting Tuesday shook a new three-day truce brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/Amine)

Ukraine and Sudan conflicts fuel alarming surge in tuberculosis

The coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, shown in purple, infects a cell, colored in green.

COVID-19 Pandemic: News, Links & Resources

Health news, ideas, advice and commentary.

Covid-19 Pandemic and the Coronavirus

Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, arrives at a news conference, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in Augusta, Maine.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The CDC is changing the way it monitors COVID-19 in the U.S.

With the nation’s COVID-19 public health emergency ending and less state cooperation, the CDC has a new plan for monitoring the coronavirus across the U.S.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky wraps up testifying before the Senate on the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky says she will step down in June

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 31, 2020 - Billy Gross, 35, and girlfriend Kristina Sorensen, 38, right, check out a new mural with a timely suggestion while taking their dog Bear out for a walk along La Brea Avenue in midtown Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic on March 31, 2020. Gross, a music manager, and Sorensen, a content development producer, were on their lunch break. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

COVID-19 is no longer a global emergency, World Health Organization says

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 27, 2022 - - Travelers begin their Memorial Day getaway at the Los Angeles International Airport on May 27, 2022. Over half a million passengers are expected to pass through LAX over the Memorial Day weekend, and millions more will hit the road for their first trip in nearly two years. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

COVID deaths were cut nearly in half in 2022, but disease is still a top killer, especially in the South

Vials of Pfizer's bivalent COVID-19 boosters on a production line in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Opinion: Will you need the latest COVID booster? It depends

No, COVID vaccines aren’t being added to our food supply

CDC greenlights spring COVID booster for some. Do you need it?

Extra spring COVID booster cleared for certain Americans

Without other pandemic precautions, hospital mask rules didn’t stop COVID spread, study finds

Covid-19 Vaccines

Free at-home COVID tests end this week for some. Here’s how to stock up

A federal rule requiring insurers to reimburse policyholders for up to eight at-home COVID tests per month ends Thursday. But in California, state lawmakers have taken steps to avoid that.

US to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates next week
Arcturus, a more infectious COVID subvariant, grows in L.A. County, seen in sewage
New coronavirus subvariant Arcturus is now in L.A. Is there reason to worry?
L.A. County ends COVID-19 vaccine mandate for deputies, firefighters, employees
Another COVID-19 booster shot may be coming. But interest is waning

More headlines

Science & Medicine

FDA questions proposal to make birth control pill available over the counter
Science & Medicine

Why is it taking so long for Dianne Feinstein to recover from shingles?
Science & Medicine

FDA approves first vaccine for RSV after decades of attempts
World & Nation

Loneliness is an epidemic, and the health risks are ‘profound,’ U.S. surgeon general warns
Technology and the Internet

Mental health apps may put your privacy at risk. Here’s what to look for
Science & Medicine

For this California teen, coverage of early psychosis treatment proved a lifesaver
California

Southeast L.A. yards are plagued by toxic lead. A dusting of this mineral could help
Politics

Montana latest to ban hormone treatment and other care for transgender minors
California

Who gets on a kidney waitlist? We’re in the dark on a crucial step toward transplant
California

Years into his quest for a kidney, an L.A. patient is still in ‘the Twilight Zone’
California

Millions of Californians are willing to donate organs, but relatively few do. Here’s why