Science Times: ‘You don’t budget for fraud.’
Surrogates interrupted, striking weight loss and other health and medical news.
Science Times
December 12, 2025

At The New York Times, our weekly Science Times section is published by our Health and Science Department. Here’s five stories about health and medicine from the department’s reporters this week.

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Jackie Molloy for The New York Times

'There's no money.'

The agency was paying surrogates to have their babies. Then it vanished. →

A blue-gloved hand holds a chunk of cannabis flower.

Mohamed Sadek for The New York Times

Green vs. Gold

The health benefits of medicinal cannabis didn’t hold up under gold-standard science. →

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Lori Weber; Frank Abbeloos; via Ariza family; Bianca de Ruijter; via Maria Grijpma; via Roldán family

Where is the line?

Asking a doctor to help you die is a final frontier of individual autonomy. →

A corporate building with the red cursive Lilly logo in the top left corner.

Mike Blake/Reuters

71.2 pounds.

A next-generation Eli Lilly drug produced major weight loss and eased knee pain. →

A close-up view of a vaccine shot and gauze on a small tray on a blue counter.

Ash Ponders for The New York Times

What the C.D.C. says.

Covid vaccines kept kids out of the hospital. →

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