The First Cohort
Medical research, with the receipts
Sunday, July 26, 2026 · Evidence-led medical research news
A Gene-Editing Trial Killed a 6-Year-Old. Nature Published the Science and Left Her Out of the Record.
Her parents paid $860,000 to base-edit their daughter's brain. She died of an immune reaction within a week, and the published paper never says so.
More from today
In the Lab, Coffee Flipped an Anti-Aging Switch. The Caffeine Barely Did.
Stephen Safe's lab reported that coffee's polyphenols, more than its caffeine, switch on a cellular stress-defense gene.
Anti-Tau Alzheimer's Drugs Keep Hitting Their Target and Missing the Disease
Tau is the new headliner at the Alzheimer's conference, but the anti-tau antibodies keep proving they bind the wrong target.
Also today
The Evolutionary Fix for Drug Resistance Works Best on a Tumor Too Small to Find
Orforglipron Reaches Deep Into the Brain's Reward Circuit and Turns the Dopamine Down
The Sweeteners Sold to Diabetics as the Safe Swap Tracked With Faster Brain Aging
A Chinese Bark Compound Reached the Black-Box Arthritis Drugs' Pathway From Upstream, in Rats
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The Sunday Cohort
One weekly dispatch. The stories that held up.
Today's index
Pepsi Paid $1.95 Billion for Poppi, in a Category That Averages as Much Sugar as Fiber
The FDA Revoked Two Petroleum Dyes That Industry Abandoned Before Most Americans Were Born
The Fruit Juice Sold to Parents as the Healthy Choice Tracks With Higher Blood Pressure 25 Years Later
The GLP-1s That Barely Move the Scale Don't Cause Hair Loss, and That's the Clue Everyone Missed
A Gut Microbe Was Feeding Ammonia to Sick Livers. A Michigan Peptide Cut Off the Supply in Monkeys.
The AHA Says Coffee Is Safe to Five Cups a Day. The Energy Shot's Problem Isn't the Caffeine.
A Petri Dish of Angry Immune Cells, a Little Ultrasound, and a Very Big Headline