Today, we look at how cancer patients may be missing out on a golden age of medicine, a test of the largest rocket ever built and Anthropic’s pursuit of morality in its A.I. Plus: the most read science article this week, and a reminder about the upcoming Nobel Prizes. Why don’t more patients get new cancer drugs?
Many patients could be helped by revolutionary new drugs that disable the genes fueling their tumors. But doctors are not sending their tumor cells to be tested or, even if they are, prescribing the drugs. “We’re at a period where our molecular understanding is unprecedented,” said Dr. Paul Mischel, a physician scientist at Stanford. “But the infrastructure is really falling apart.” “It’s a problem — it’s a big, big problem,” he added. “People should be really angry.” Why are so few patients getting these groundbreaking treatments? Read the full story here. Starship makes it to orbit
SpaceX’s Starship finally circled Earth earlier this week, a key milestone toward Elon Musk’s dreams of eventually sending people to Mars, as well as NASA’s plans to send astronauts back to the moon. (It had to return from space early, after less than two orbits instead of the planned six, because of engine problems that occurred during liftoff.) Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The design aims to be fully reusable; eventually both stages will return to the launch site to be caught by giant mechanical arms. If SpaceX pulls off this vision, Starship would revolutionize the space industry, enabling launches of bigger, heavier satellites and other cargo at lower costs. The quest for humanlike A.I.
Elizabeth Dias, our national religion correspondent, and Cade Metz, one of our technology reporters, discuss Anthropic’s approach to instilling morality into Claude — which has involved consultations with religious leaders, including ones at the Vatican — and why it’s raising questions. We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
Next week: the NobelsThe Nobel Prizes are awarded every year in early October. Follow along! The Science desk will be covering the:
Thanks for joining us this week! Let us know how we’re doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.
|
