Facts Matter

Within the last three months, we already discussed: a Chinese woman, from Wuhan of all places, who was smuggling in roundworms through the mail—while studying at a lab in Michigan; a couple, boyfriend and girlfriend (both Chinese nationals, also working at that Michigan lab) who were smuggling in a dangerous fungus—a type of deadly fungus that can target crops; and now, the FBI just arrested another Chinese national—this one studying for his doctorate at Indiana University—and he was allegedly smuggling plasmid DNA derived from E. coli bacteria from China hidden inside women’s underwear. Let’s go through the details of this new case together.

On Dec. 10, it was announced that Google would pay nearly $700 million in settlements to people who paid to download apps from the Google Play Store.The announcement came in the form of a statement from multiple state attorneys general, who were collectively suing Google for anti-competitive practices.Google decided to settle this lawsuit—along with several other concessions—and, in so doing, will pay $700 million, the bulk of which will go to the actual users.Let’s go through the details of the case: what Google was accused of doing, how the settlement money will be disbursed, and how you can know if you qualify.

Today, let’s go through one of the best, most convincing Apple scams that’s out there right now. This one really has it all: a genuine request to authenticate your identity coming from Apple, real alerts being sent to your phone, computer, and tablet, as well as perfectly timed phone calls coming from “Apple Support.” This scam is good enough to be able to trick even extremely skeptical people—so let’s go through it together so that you don’t get scammed.

There have been quite a few developments recently on the vaccine front coming out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisory panel recommends delaying the first vaccine that’s given to many children, the Hepatitis B vaccine that’s administered pretty much as soon as they’re born.President Donald Trump signed an executive memo, starting the process of aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with other developed nations.West Virginia is flip-flopping on the question of whether to allow religious exemptions for school vaccines.

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case that would effectively allow Republicans to gain five seats in the House.On Dec. 4, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the redrawn election map for Texas will be allowed to stand.Here, we go through the backstory of the case, as well as what it means for the upcoming midterm elections.