Science Episodes

Friday, October 2, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Jennifer Lincoln (@drjenniferlincoln) joins Medlines as a new anchor! She and Eva Johnson cover an FDA advisory panel vote on an early cancer detection blood test for adults 50 and older. The panel called the test safe, then split on whether it works. The agency still has to rule. They also walk through a UCSF comparison of myomectomy and radiofrequency ablation for uterine fibroids. Both treatments improved symptoms over two years, and neither dif...

Friday, September 4, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary (@drglaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover the FDA authorization of Aletta, the first standalone robot that draws blood without hands on operator intervention. The Vitestro system uses near infrared light and Doppler ultrasound to find veins, and one phlebotomist can supervise three units at a 94.5 percent first stick rate. They also break down a trial of atorvastatin in nearly 10,000 healthy adults over 70, where a 30 percent relative ...

Friday, August 28, 2026 In today's episode, Alok Patel (@AlokPatelMD) & Adam Rose (@Adjoro) cover Epic bringing prior authorization checks directly into the EHR. New federal rules will require Medicare Advantage Medicaid and ACA marketplace insurers to support electronic prior authorization APIs by January 1. Epic's Coverage Requirements Discovery shows coverage requirements and documentation needs inside the chart without payer portals or phone calls. They also break down undisclosed deaths in...

Friday, August 14, 2026 In today's episode, Adam Rose (@adjoro) & Dr. Alok Patel (@alokpatelmd) cover the FDA's landmark approval of Moderna's first mRNA flu vaccine for adults. They break down the phase-three trial showing the mRNA shot produced fewer confirmed influenza cases than standard vaccines, and what a complicated insurance landscape means for access this flu season. Plus: researchers at the Arc Institute fed millions of viral DNA sequences to a language model. It wrote new genomes th...

August 7, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary (@DrGlaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover the American Red Cross declaring its second-ever national blood crisis, with Type O blood critically low and hospitals postponing transfusions. They break down what's driving the shortage and debate whether blood donors deserve HOV-lane perks. Then: a 36-year-old Iowa woman with cystic fibrosis becomes the first known U.S. patient to receive a quadruple organ transplant involving re-transplanted lungs, in...

Friday, July 24, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Alok Patel (@alokpatelmd) & Eva Johnson cover CMS's sweeping 2027 physician fee schedule proposal, which would accelerate Medicare's shift from fee-for-service toward value-based, preventive care. They also unpack Kalshi's launch of clinical trial prediction markets; betting on FDA approvals is now a real thing, and the ethical questions are piling up. Coffee gets a heart health endorsement from the AHA, and an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease hits ...

Friday, July 17, 2026 In today’s episode, Dr. Will Flanary / Dr. Glaucomflecken (@drglaucomflecken) and Adam Rose cover the EPCAT III trial, which found that aspirin alone was non-inferior to an initial course of rivaroxaban followed by aspirin for preventing major blood clots after elective hip or knee replacement in predominantly standard-risk patients. They examine NICE’s draft recommendation allowing two rapid endometriosis tests, EndoSure and Endotest, to enter limited NHS use while resear...

Friday, July 10, 2026 In today's episode, Dr. Will Flanary / Dr. Glaucomflecken (@drglaucomflecken) & Eva Johnson cover the retraction of the Advocate trial after FDA reviewers found the avacopan (Tavneos) dataset was unblinded, re-adjudicated, and altered before being relocked, throwing its approval for ANCA-associated vasculitis into doubt. They break down Medicare's new GLP-1 Bridge program, which offers eligible Part D beneficiaries drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound at $50 a month through the end of 2027, and why that copay sits outside normal Part D accounting. They also track a Cyclospora outbreak now reported across 18 states and why routine washing does not reliably kill it. Plus: they also discuss Alibaba's $600 million fentanyl-precursor settlement, the WHO's first emergency-use Ebola (Bundibugyo) diagnostic, France's deadly heat wave, and more.