Health
Accessibility Is Taking a Hit Across the Sciences
Tyler Nelson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida, studies the neurobiology of pain, a choice partly motivated by his own frustrations with a neuromuscular disability. Last October, he applied for a grant at the National Institutes of Health that, if awarded, would support his dream of someday running his own lab.
But, earlier in February, he learned that his application, which took six months to pull together, was about to be thrown out.
The reason: Dr. Nelson had applied for a version of the award that supports researchers who are historically underrepresented in science, including people with disabilities. That funding avenue now violates President Trump’s executive order banning federal agencies from activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or D.E.I.A.
Dr. Nelson was tipped off by an N.I.H. affiliate, but he has received no official notice about the situation. “I’ve tried to call probably 150 times,” he said. Unofficially, he learned that the agency was planning to pull his submission altogether rather than move it to the general award pool for consideration. This has happened with at least one other type of award offered by the agency, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Thanks to the tip, Dr. Nelson was able to withdraw his application and resubmit it to the general award pool before its deadline — but he is unsure if others were so lucky.
“What this does is discriminate against people who are underrepresented,” said an N.I.H. reviewer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The reviewer added that the evaluation criteria for the general and diversity award pools were the same, with no priority given to either pool. “I can’t stress enough,” the reviewer said, that an undeserving grant “is not going to get funded, whether it’s ‘diversity’ or not.”
According to Eve Hill, a civil rights lawyer in Washington, D.C., this may violate certain legal protections for people with disabilities, although there is no precedent in court.
“They’ve provided this category to overcome past discrimination,” she said. “By not then considering them in the general award, they are exacerbating that discrimination.”
The predicament is one of many ways that accessibility across the sciences is taking a hit from the D.E.I.A. shutdown. Federal agencies, once proponents for increasing opportunities for scientists with disabilities, are now ceasing programs geared toward that goal. Left uncertain is how funding for disability research — from designing accessible health services to building better prosthetics — will be affected by the order.
People with disabilities make up more than a quarter of the nation’s population and are considered to be the world’s largest minority. But experts say that, until recently, disability has largely been neglected in discussions about marginalized groups.
“Accessibility was always seen as an afterthought,” said Kim Knackstedt, a disability policy consultant in Washington, D.C. “Whether intentional or not, disability has been excluded from a lot of D.E.I. efforts.”
That extends to the sciences. The National Science Foundation reported that, in 2021, people with disabilities made up only 3 percent of the STEM work force. Only in 2023 did the N.I.H. designate people with disabilities as a community that experienced health disparities.
As the first director of disability policy in the Biden administration, Dr. Knackstedt led a push for accessibility to be at the forefront of diversity, equity and inclusion policy. One outcome of this effort was an executive order issued by President Biden that explicitly named accessibility as an area to strengthen in the federal work force.
“That was a win for many of us,” said Bonnielin Swenor, an epidemiologist who founded the Disability Health Research Center at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Swenor, who experienced barriers pursuing a research career because of a visual impairment, added that it was disheartening “to have that progress not just stopped, but rolled back.”
Federal science agencies scrambled to comply with the reversal, leaving scientists and disability advocates apprehensive about the future of accessibility research. Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation began flagging grants that contained buzzwords commonly associated with D.E.I.A., including “disability” and “barrier.”
An N.S.F. program director, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said that there were “quite a few awards flagged for the word ‘disability,’” including projects to make driving and computing more accessible. The program director added that staff members were unsure if these research activities were banned by the executive order.
A spokesman for the N.S.F. did not answer questions sent by The New York Times regarding the eligibility of such awards.
Robert Gregg, an engineer at the University of Michigan who designs wearable robots for people with mobility impairments, said he had received notification from the N.S.F. to halt D.E.I.A. activities. But he interpreted that to mean supplemental programs aimed at increasing participation of underrepresented groups in science.
“Fundamental research in technology, like robotics and A.I. — my understanding is that that is still perfectly valid and can continue,” he said. But Dr. Gregg also runs clinical trials funded by the N.I.H., and he recently learned that the renewal process for this funding had effectively been frozen again.
Scientists with disabilities are also worried about what the clampdown on accessibility will mean for both their own careers and those of the next generation.
“Disabled people were barely being included,” said Alyssa Paparella, a graduate student at the Baylor College of Medicine who founded an online movement called #DisabledInSTEM. “Now there’s a huge fear of what’s going to be the future of all of us.”
A notice on the N.I.H. website encouraging participation of people with disabilities in the research enterprise has been removed, as has an N.S.F. webpage that listed funding opportunities for scientists with disabilities. Last month, the N.S.F. also indefinitely postponed an engineering workshop to better include people with autism and other neurocognitive differences in the work force.
In the geosciences, many degree programs require students to complete weekslong outdoor field camps that can be difficult to navigate with certain disabilities. This led Anita Marshall, a lecturer at the University of Florida, to found GeoSPACE, an N.S.F.-funded camp that incorporates modern technology and can be completed virtually.
She did not know if GeoSPACE would be able to continue. “This has really knocked me off my feet,” said Dr. Marshall, who described the project as her pride and joy. “I’m not sure what’s next.”
Doubts have sprung up for Dr. Nelson, too. Although he managed to salvage his application for N.I.H. funding, the change has pushed back any clarity about his future in research by at least five months.
“It’s a really dismal time in science for trainees,” he said. “I look at the last 15 years, like, ‘Why did I work this underpaid, high-stress job?’ Do I want to do this forever?”
Health
Where are they now? Officials race to find 40 passengers who disembarked cruise ship stricken with hantavirus
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Nearly 40 passengers exposed to a deadly hantavirus outbreak are believed to have walked off a cruise ship without contact tracing and scattered across multiple countries, leaving authorities scrambling to find them.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the company that operates the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, said Thursday that 29 passengers disembarked on April 24, nearly two weeks after the first death on board, while Dutch officials put the number closer to 40.
The passengers, representing at least a dozen nationalities, returned to their home countries across Europe, Africa and beyond, creating a complex international search effort, the company said, adding that nationalities of two of the people were unknown.
Health officials have already confirmed that at least one passenger who left the ship, a man who returned to Switzerland, tested positive for the Andes strain of the hantavirus, a rare variant that can spread between people through close contact.
CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. (Misper Apawu/AP)
The outbreak has already resulted in at least three deaths, while several others have fallen ill as the virus spread among passengers.
A Dutch man died on April 11, and his body was taken off the ship onto the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. His wife also disembarked there before flying to South Africa, where she collapsed and died at the Johannesburg airport.
The MV Hondius cruise ship is anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. (Misper Apawu/AP)
Argentine officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the leading hypothesis is that the couple may have been exposed to rodents while visiting a landfill during a bird-watching tour in the city of Ushuaia, unknowingly contracting the virus before boarding the cruise ship.
RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED
Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings. The World Health Organization (WHO) said human-to-human transfer is uncommon, but possible.
Additional evacuations followed the Dutch man’s death.
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship into an ambulance at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. (Misper Apawu/AP)
A British man was flown to South Africa from Ascension Island, according to the company, while three more people, including the ship’s doctor, were airlifted to Europe for treatment as the vessel drifted near Cape Verde.
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With passengers dispersing across continents and limited records of their movements, officials in South Africa and across Europe are now working to reconstruct travel paths and identify anyone who may have been exposed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Health
‘Looksmaxxing’ trend has young men taking hammers to their faces in pursuit of sharper features
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Brian Kilmeade sat down with experts to dissect a growing online phenomenon that has captured the attention of young men across the country.
Known as “looksmaxxing,” this trend involves a quest for sharper physical features and increased confidence, often categorized into two distinct paths: “softmaxxing” and “hardmaxxing.”
While the movement promises self-improvement, the segment revealed deeper concerns regarding safety and the psychological motivations driving these young “looksmaxxers.”
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Kilmeade opened the discussion by describing the trend as a quest for young men to “surpass genetic potential.” He noted that the methods vary wildly, ranging from “elaborate skin care routines” to extreme physical interventions.
While the movement promises self-improvement, experts are raising concerns regarding the safety and psychological motivations behind looksmaxxing. (iStock)
Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Claire Wolinsky said the trend has been gaining momentum for at least a year, highlighting popular techniques like “mewing,” where young men attempt to reshape their jawlines through specific tongue positioning.
The New York-based expert was quick to debunk the effectiveness of such methods, stating that they are “clearly not science-based at all.”
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The shift toward male-centric beauty standards appears to be heavily influenced by the digital landscape, according to Wolinsky, who observed that “social media is pushing this way.” Many young people have become suspicious of traditional medical advice, she added.
Instead, she said, they “look online for their information, and they look at attractive peers to see what they’re doing, and they want to look like them.”
A family therapist raised critical questions about the underlying mental health of those participating in the movement. (iStock)
This digital influence has created a vacuum where influencers dictate health and grooming standards for a generation of men instead of physicians, Wolinsky noted.
Family therapist Tom Kersting shared concerns about the underlying mental health of those participating in the movement.
The New Jersey-based expert questioned whether these young men are acting out of “narcissistic behavior” or if they are in “search of some form of external gratification from strangers online.”
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Kersting emphasized that true self-worth cannot be measured by digital metrics, adding that “self-esteem is how I feel about myself. It has nothing to do with how many likes, followers or thumbs-up that I get from the outside world.”
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While the experts acknowledged that some aspects of the trend are benign, the line between self-care and self-harm is becoming increasingly blurred.
Wolinsky pointed out that taking care of your skin or sleeping well can be beneficial.
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In contrast, she expressed alarm over “hardmaxxing” behaviors, which include taking steroids and supplements or seeking plastic surgery at a young age. These practices, she noted, “concern me as a mom and also as a physician.”
The conversation shifted to “bone smashing,” a practice where individuals purportedly use physical objects to alter their facial structure.
“Hardmaxxing” behaviors include taking steroids and supplements or seeking plastic surgery at a young age. (iStock)
Wolinsky clarified the danger of such actions, explaining that “they’re apparently taking hammers or physical objects and hurting themselves.”
“There’s no way that by destroying a bone, it gets thicker or better, or your jawline’s going to look improved,” she said.
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Kersting suggested that the rise of looksmaxxing may be a symptom of a broader societal crisis facing young males who feel “pushed aside and forgotten about.”
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As young men struggle to find their identity, he said, they may turn to the internet for guidance.
“The people that are influencing them… these social media influencers… don’t really have anything very influential to offer.”
Health
Swiss man tests positive for hantavirus after returning from cruise linked to deadly outbreak
Physician discusses deadly hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship
Dr. Zaid Fadul, a physician, discusses the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, confirming the Andes strain has a roughly 40% mortality rate. He explains its human-to-human transmission, distinct from other hantaviruses, and highlights the need for a possible eight-week quarantine due to a long latency period.
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A Swiss man who returned from a cruise linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak has tested positive and been isolated, as health officials say the strain involved can spread between people in rare cases — though the overall risk remains low.
Health authorities in Switzerland confirmed the man recently traveled aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of an outbreak that has already killed three passengers and sickened several others.
Swiss health officials said the man sought medical care after developing symptoms and was immediately placed in isolation. His wife, who traveled with him, is self-isolating but has not shown symptoms.
The officials confirmed his case involves the Andes strain of hantavirus.
RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED
The MV Hondius Dutch cruise ship is anchored in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Verde on May 5, 2026. (Arilson Almeida/AP)
The World Health Organization said the Andes strain is a rare form of hantavirus that can spread between humans through close contact — unlike most hantavirus infections, which are typically linked to exposure to rodent droppings.
South African health authorities said they also identified the Andes strain in two other passengers who were on the ship.
Health workers disembark from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship off Cape Verde on May 4, 2026, after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. (Qasem Elhato/AP)
The outbreak left the Dutch-flagged cruise ship stranded off the coast of Cape Verde, with nearly 150 passengers and crew on board as authorities scramble to contain the situation.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that three suspected cases were evacuated from the vessel and are being transported to the Netherlands for treatment.
“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” Tedros said.
Authorities stress that while the Andes strain can spread person-to-person, transmission remains uncommon and typically requires close, prolonged contact.
Health officials have launched monitoring efforts for passengers both on board and those who have already disembarked, coordinating across multiple countries as the investigation continues.
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The ship departed Argentina on April 1 and was scheduled to travel through the Southern Atlantic, including stops in Antarctica, before the outbreak disrupted its itinerary.
Spain has agreed to receive the vessel in the Canary Islands, though local officials have raised concerns about potential risk to residents.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship remains off Cape Verde on May 4, 2026, after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. (Qasem Elhato/AP)
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Hantavirus infections are rare but can be severe, with symptoms ranging from fever and fatigue to serious respiratory illness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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