Alzheimer’s proteins beaten back by sleeping pill in small study
The pills showed promise in combating the substances that lead to the harmful tangles and plaques in the brain that contribute to the disease.
North & Central America
This archive covers progress stories from North and Central America, spanning the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the nations of Central America. Readers will find reporting on health, environment, community resilience, and policy advances across the region.
Apple will use 100% recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025
In addition, all Apple-designed printed circuit boards will use 100% recycled tin soldering and 100% recycled gold plating by 2025, and magnets in its devices will be made completely of recycled rare earth materials.
Convictions cleared for nearly 850K Michiganders as ‘Clean Slate’ program takes effect
The bipartisan “Clean Slate” legislation, as advocates call it, wipes clean a range of convictions from people’s records after a defined waiting period.
New Jersey governor protects trans youth seeking health care with executive order
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order preventing people in the state from being extradited for providing, receiving, or facilitating gender-affirming care.
California moves to cap insulin cost at $30 and manufacture its own naloxone
A 10-milliliter vial of insulin will be available for no more than $30, cutting costs by 90% for many.
New nuclear medicine therapy cures human non-hodgkin lymphoma in preclinical model
A single dose of this radioimmunotherapy was found to eliminate tumor cells and extend the life of mice injected with cancerous cells for more than 221 days (the trial endpoint), compared to just 19 days in untreated control mice.
Colorado passes first U.S. right to repair legislation for farmers
Right-to-repair just scored a historic win: in April 2023, Colorado became the first U.S. state to legally guarantee farmers the ability to fix their own agricultural equipment. The law requires manufacturers to share the same diagnostic tools, software, and manuals they give authorized dealers — closing a digital loophole that often left skilled local mechanics unable to complete a repair without a corporate authorization code. For farmers facing a broken combine mid-harvest, that shift can mean the difference between saving a season and losing it. Colorado’s breakthrough is now serving as a template for similar fights across other states and at the federal level, and for a broader movement extending repair rights to electronics, medical devices, and beyond.
New Mexico governor signs bill ending juvenile life sentences without parole
Under SB64, offenders who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 and received life sentences will be eligible for parole hearings 15 to 25 years into their sentences.
California to require half of all heavy trucks sales to be electric by 2035
The U.S. EPA is granting California the legal authority to require that half of all heavy-duty truck sales in the state be fully electric by 2035, an ambitious standard that will go beyond federal requirements.
Oregon approves the U.S.’s first legal psilocybin mushroom farms
Legal psilocybin mushrooms are now being grown in Oregon for the first time in over 50 years of U.S. prohibition, with Satori Farms PDX becoming the first licensed producer in the country. Owner Tori Armbrust, a longtime gourmet mushroom grower, plans to supply two service centers within months, where trained facilitators will guide adults through supervised sessions. The framework, approved by Oregon voters in 2020, has already drawn more than 200 license and worker permit applications, and the first cohort of state-trained facilitators has graduated. Cost and federal scheduling remain real hurdles, but Oregon is quietly turning a decade of promising mental health research into the country’s first working model — one that other states, and people struggling with treatment-resistant depression, will be watching closely.