For years, Pancho communicated by spelling out words on a computer using a pointer attached to a baseball cap, an arduous method that allowed him to type about five correct words per minute. “I had to bend/lean my head forward, down, and poke a key letter one-by-one to write,” he emailed. Last year, the researchers…
In a striking reflection of concern over the approval of the controversial new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, two major American health systems have decided that they will not administer it to patients. The Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest and most respected medical centers in the country, said in a statement that a panel of its…
Outside a Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday, throngs of Britney Spears fans — and nearly an equal number of reporters and photographers — gathered under the afternoon sun as a judge evaluated Ms. Spears’s legal representation and conservatorship. Supporters crammed onto a narrow sidewalk wearing official and D.I.Y. Britney Spears merchandise as they awaited news…
What’s the secret to sibling success? Apparently, an ugly divorce. At least, that’s how it went down for Ellen Umansky and her two brothers. Ellen’s parents separated when she was 9. “They loved us deeply, but there were battles to be won — emotional, reputational, financial,” Ellen wrote in her Modern Love essay. Ellen and…
WASHINGTON — Nixon and Elvis. Trump and Kanye. Biden and Olivia. On Wednesday, Olivia Rodrigo, the 18-year-old pop star with the No. 1 album in the country, visited the White House and joined the Biden administration’s efforts to use the young and influential to reach the young and unvaccinated. “It’s important to have conversations with…
Coca-Cola changed the flavor of its soda in 1985 and enraged a nation. Now, the company is doing it again, risking another outcry. This time, it is changing the taste and look of one of its most popular soft drinks: Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, better known as Coke Zero, the diet spinoff that is supposed to…
Ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which begin later this month, members of the International Swimming Federation, known as FINA, are reconsidering a ban they put on a swim cap designed for Black hair. The product, Soul Cap, is meant to accommodate thicker, curlier hair textures to provide a better fit and protect…
Welcome. Last week I wrote about returning to the movies and how, even more so than seeing a film on the big screen, it was thrilling to be in a crowd of people, responding to the on-screen together. I called it “communal emotion,” but was delighted to learn that there’s another term for it, coined…
Even as many Americans celebrate the apparent waning of the pandemic, the thrum of concern over the so-called Delta variant grows steadily louder. The variant, the most contagious version yet of the coronavirus, accounts for more than half of new infections in the United States, federal health officials reported this month. The spread of the…
On July 2, a heavy fog hung above San Francisco City Hall’s gold-embellished dome. Yet inside there was not a trace of gloom. Couples posed for photos on the pink-hued stairs on their way to the Rotunda, where volunteer officiants resumed performing civil marriages on June 9. Appointments are booked solid and as coveted as…