A study on cocaine addiction published in 2002 shows volume loss, or shrinkage, in several areas of the brain, particularly the frontal control areas. A study from 2004 shows very similar results for methamphetamine. But we expect drugs to damage the brain, so these studies don’t really surprise us.
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The bill includes a provision calling for the federal government to reaffirm “the right to bodily autonomy and health care for transgender and nonbinary people by … eliminating unnecessary governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, gender-affirming medical care and counseling for transgender and nonbinary adults and adolescents.” The bill comes as more than half of states now ban the provision of sex-change surgeries or hormone drugs to minors with gender dysphoria.
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Belgium had a record 4,486 assisted deaths in 2025, an increase of 12.4% on the previous year, accounting for 4% of all deaths in the country, with almost a quarter of all deaths not expected in the short-term.
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Secular campaigners in Ireland are intensifying efforts to marginalize or remove religious education from the country’s faith-based schools, particularly those with a Catholic ethos. The latest push, led by humanist and secularist groups, calls for making religious instruction optional and replacing it with broadly secular “worldview” or ethics classes that treat Christianity as just one belief system among many.
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Republican lawmakers are actively opposing the nomination of Dr. Michelle Bachelet for United Nations secretary-general due to her “pro-abortion zealot intent.” Bachelet, a Chilean politician, supported abortion access during her time in leadership positions including her two terms as the 33rd and 35th president of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018.
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