Paper Mills, Deep Fakes, CDC Turmoil, and MAHA Priorities

An article in Nature highlights that between March 2020 and April 2026, over 18,700 advertisements for fraudulent research paper authorships were identified from seven different paper mills, primarily aimed at scholars in the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and India. The median price for first-author positions was nearly US$800, with costs ranging from $57 to more than $5,600. Co-author Reese Richardson from Northwestern University indicated that this list could be useful for evaluating publications. Numerous papers were published in reputable journals, including four in Springer Nature and five in Wiley. In another development, Hany Farid's firm confirmed a video showing a U.S. Tomahawk missile strike in Minab, Iran, which resulted in over 150 fatalities at a girls' school. Meanwhile, CDC acting director Jay Bhattacharya withdrew a COVID-19 vaccine study from MMWR, suggesting it be published in a different journal. A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that 42% of voters supporting MAHA prioritize reducing healthcare expenses.