Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Sarah Mupo. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode by signing up for the “First Opinion Podcast” newsletter. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday.

Torie Bosch: In recent years, there’s been a quiet shift in medicine. I’m not talking about a new drug or a new insurance headache. I’m talking about the way we write “health care.” Historically, it’s been two words. But increasingly, people, especially in the industry, have changed it to one word. At STAT, perhaps no linguistic decision is as important as: Should “health care” be one word or two?

Read the rest…

​Read More

First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and provocative articles about the life sciences writ large, written by biotech insiders, health care workers, researchers, and others.

To encourage robust, good-faith discussion about issues raised in First Opinion essays, STAT publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to them. You can submit a Letter to the Editor here, or find the submission form at the end of any First Opinion essay.

Read the rest…

Animals from different species often rely on surprisingly sophisticated communication to work together, whether finding food, cleaning parasites, or gaining protection. New research suggests these interspecies “conversations” are flexible, evolved, and far more important to life in nature than scientists once realized.