Nobel Prizes, COVID Vaccine Updates and Malnutrition in Gaza
The CDC updates COVID vaccine guidance and stirs controversy over childhood immunizations. And global health experts warn of rising child malnutrition in Gaza.
RODRIGO FREITAS/Contributor/Getty Images
Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to our weekly science news roundup.
First, let’s take a quick tour through last week’s Nobel Prize winners. Last Monday the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for discovering how the body stops the immune system from attacking itself.
The immune system normally fights off infections and diseases. But in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or type 1 diabetes it mistakenly targets the body’s own tissues. The laureates’ research focuses on the type of so-called T cells that act as internal regulators, keeping this friendly fire in check.
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During the 1990s Sakaguchi found that mouse immune cells bearing a particular protein marker were essential for preventing self-attack. Eliminating these cells led to widespread tissue damage. Several years later Brunkow and Ramsdell identified the genetic switch behind these regulatory cells while studying mice with severe autoimmune disorders.
Their findings have inspired more than 200 clinical trials exploring therapies that include new ways to treat autoimmune conditions and improve organ-transplant success.
Rather delightfully, laureate Fred Ramsdell made headlines for missing the Nobel Assembly’s call thanks to an off-the-grid camping trip. When his wife turned on her phone and shrieked about the news, according to Reuters, the awardee thought she’d spotted a grizzly bear.
The Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded last Tuesday, honored John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for proving that quantum effects can happen at much larger scales than previously expected.
Quantum tunneling happens when particles pass straight through barriers it doesn’t seem like they should be able to pass through. This was first discovered at microscopic scales. But in experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, back in the 1980s, the laureates demonstrated quantum tunneling in circuits “big enough to be held in the hand,” according to the Nobel Assembly. Using the circuits, made from superconductors, the researchers showed billions of electrons acting as a single quantum particle tunneling through barriers together. These breakthroughs helped enable quantum computing, where information is processed using quantum bits that can exist in multiple states at once.
The third and final science-y Nobel prize—the award for chemistry, which was announced last Wednesday—recognized Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi for creating metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs.
These tiny cages, built from metal ions linked by carbon-based molecules, act like sponges. Their small openings selectively trap specific substances, making them useful for applications such as cleaning polluted water, storing hydrogen fuel and potentially delivering drugs to targeted areas in the body.
Robson pioneered the concept, which was inspired by diamond structures. Kitagawa showed that MOFs could flex and allow gases to pass through them. Yaghi demonstrated that countless metal and molecule combinations could create stable frameworks for different uses.
For deeper dives on the findings that won this year’s biggest honors in science, check out our coverage on ScientificAmerican.com.
Now let’s get into some vaccine updates. Last Monday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would officially recommend updated COVID vaccines—but with a potentially confusing new caveat. The CDC now suggests that people consult a health care practitioner before getting the annual shot, instead of recommending them for universal use. What’s important to understand is that this guidance does not mean you’re required to make a doctor’s appointment or get a prescription before seeking a COVID vaccination. Pharmacists are qualified to advise you on routine vaccines and can provide boosters to individuals of any age and health status. So if you haven’t gotten your annual COVID shot yet, make an appointment now. And don’t forget that flu jab while you’re there!
The news is less promising when it comes to the CDC’s statements on immunization for measles, mumps and rubella. Last week acting CDC director Jim O’Neill posted on X calling for drugmakers to break up the so-called MMR vaccine, a combination shot that has been used to protect kids from measles, mumps and rubella since the 1970s. O’Neill’s stance echoes recent statements from President Donald Trump, who said at a White House event last month that “too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number,” referring to the number of vaccines recommended for U.S. children.
There are currently no individual vaccines approved for use in the U.S. for these three viruses, and the CDC’s own website says there is no evidence that there’s any benefit to separating the combination shot into individual immunizations. Breaking up the shots would mean more needles and more pediatrician appointments, and it could give parents the incorrect impression that there was credible evidence against childhood vaccine safety.
Speaking of protecting kids: according to a study published last Wednesday in the Lancet, an estimated 54,600-plus children in Gaza were acutely malnourished, based on data collected through mid-August 2025. Acute malnutrition, also known as wasting, is characterized by low weight and is a life-threatening condition. The results of the new study are based on arm-circumference measurements taken from 219,783 children between the ages of six months and about five years from January 2024 to mid-August 2025, which researchers used to extrapolate the status of the estimated 346,000 children in that age group in Gaza. The study authors found a link between blockades put in place by the Israeli government and the prevalence of wasting in children. While acute malnutrition rates have generally increased during the course of the war, the study suggests that rates dropped sharply during an early 2025 ceasefire that allowed the delivery of foreign aid, then rose again once blockades were reinstated. An accompanying commentary article, written by several experts not involved in the study, noted the strong evidence that aid restriction has contributed to childhood malnutrition in the Gaza Strip and warned that health impacts could persist for generations.
That’s all for this week’s science news roundup. We’ll be back on Wednesday.
Science Quickly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.
For Scientific American, this is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!
