Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

An expert committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on June 26, 2025, to cease recommending the use of a mercury-based chemical called thimerosal in flu vaccines. Only a small number of flu vaccines – ones that are produced in multi-dose vials – currently contain thimerosal.Thimerosal is almost never used in vaccines anymore, but vaccine skeptics have falsely claimed it carries health risks to the brain. Public health experts have raised concerns that the committee’s action against thimerosal may shake public trust and sow confusion about the safety of vaccines.The committee, called the Advisory Committee on…

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged Philadelphia’s public schools with failing to properly inspect eight schools for damaged asbestos. The district agreed to have the criminal case deferred while it pays for a court supervised monitor to keep tabs on its response.Prosecutors said it was the first time a school district in the U.S. has faced such environmental criminal allegations.The district is charged with eight counts of violating the federal Toxic Substances Control Act for allegedly failing to perform inspections in a timely manner during a recent five-year period.Authorities said a judge must approve the terms of the…

The Sonos Ace are the popular audio brand’s first pair of wireless headphones. They offer impressive performance with features that go toe-to-toe with some of the best over-ear headphones from Bose and Sony. But while the Ace stack up well against the competition, they don’t do a whole lot to truly stand out from the pack. Many fans of Sonos’ wireless speakers were hoping that the Ace would distinguish themselves by supporting WiFi music streaming, but this ended up being wishful thinking. These headphones are limited to Bluetooth, just like their main rivals. Ultimately, the Ace’s biggest selling point might…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Professors and students at the University of Alabama testified on Thursday that a new an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law has jeopardized funding and changed curriculum, as a federal judge weighs whether the legislation is constitutional before the new school year begins.The new state law, SB129, followed a slew of proposals from Republican lawmakers across the country taking aim at DEI programs on college campuses. Universities across the country have shuttered or rebranded student affinity groups and DEI offices. The law prohibits public schools and universities from using state funds for any curriculum that endorses or…

Google is launching a new experimental app called Doppl that uses AI to visualize how different outfits might look on you, the company announced on Thursday. The app is available on iOS and Android in the U.S. Doppl is designed to let you virtually try on outfits on a digital version of yourself. The app works by first getting you to upload a full-body photo of yourself. From there, you can use photos or screenshots of different outfits to virtually try them on. These images could be a photo of an outfit you see at a thrift store or on…

When Cluely, a startup claiming to be building a product that helps people “cheat” on everything, announced that it raised a $15 million Series A financing round from Andreessen Horowitz, some people on X criticized the VC firm for backing the controversial company. After all, Cluely isn’t just offering a product that may have questionable uses; the startup has also become famous for using what many people call rage-bait marketing. But Cluely’s ability to grab attention is precisely what attracted a16z to the startup. Even before meeting Cluely’s founder Roy Lee, Andreessen Horowitz’s partner Bryan Kim thought that startups need…

Marc Benioff is all in on AI at Salesforce, and he said it’s working with grade-A accuracy.The 60-year-old Salesforce founder and CEO told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang that the company is having “hundreds of thousands” of AI conversations with customers, and they are 93% accurate.”Even for a large brand or a large company that we work with, like Disney, it’s about 93%,” Benioff said in the interview published Thursday.In February, Benioff told investors that Agentforce, Salesforce’s platform for building AI agents, was seeing “amazing results” in resolving tens of thousands of customer service queries. It allows “human employees to focus on…

A longtime anti-vaccine activist gave a presentation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee meeting Thursday about an issue that has long been considered settled science.It was perhaps the clearest sign of how meetings of the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, have already changed drastically under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently fired all 17 members of the panel and replaced them with his own appointees.The presenter, nurse practitioner Lyn Redwood, is the president emerita of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. Her presentation focused…

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When breast cancer turned her life upside down, Anna Lucia Amorim, a 63-year-old Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro state, fell into a deep depression sometimes struggling to get out of bed.But everything changed, she said, after she started practicing Va’a canoeing in Niteroi, a city facing Rio across Guanabara Bay, with other women who have battled cancer or were undergoing treatment.“Every time you put the paddle in the water, it’s like a new life,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday. “When you are there, you forget everything. You only see the sea and the…

A 30-year-old influencer who documented his cancer journey online has announced his own death in a social media video.Tanner Martin made the announcement in a video shared on his @tannerandshay Instagram account, which he shared with his wife Shay Martin.”Hey, it’s me, Tanner. If you’re watching this, I am dead,” Tanner Martin says in a video message posted Wednesday.Tanner Martin/Instagram – PHOTO: Tanner Martin, 30, recorded a video announcing his own death. His video was shared on Instagram on June 25, 2025.”Everyone, I had a heck of a life,” he continues. “I decided to make this video announcing my death…