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A Russian scientist says he wants to create more genetically modified babies, flouting international objections that such a step would be premature, unethical and irresponsible. Denis Rebrikov, a molecular biologist who heads a gene-editing lab at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology in Moscow, claims he has developed a safe — and therefore acceptable — way to create gene-edited babies. (Stein, 6/21)

It was hard enough that Savi Abdallah-Sinha was only a 2-year-old when he began undergoing chemotherapy treatment to rid his body of leukemia. What made his situation even more difficult, his parents say, was knowing that the little boy was so young he lacked the words to communicate the many varieties of acute pain he was experiencing. Each time a new drug was introduced or a round of treatment completed, the boy’s inner world remained largely mysterious to the adults caring for him. (Holley, 6/20)

As researchers bemoan cuts in federal funding for basic science, a new study of millions of patents indicates the value of spending tax dollars on research. Ever since the great push for technological innovation during World War II and immediately afterward, the U.S. government has played an important role in fueling scientific research and innovation. About 10% of NIH grants now directly result in patents, and some commentators have argued that some industrial breakthroughs like the iPhone owe a great deal to government-funded research. (Flaherty, 6/20)

Lasting 21 weeks, the 2018-19 flu season was not only the longest in a decade, it was unusually marked by two separate waves of influenza A sickness, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Thursday in a new report. An H1N1 strain dominated during an initial surge between October through mid-February, followed by a groundswell of H3N2 activity beginning in mid-February and lasting through mid-May, the CDC said. The H3N2 strain is known to cause more severe symptoms than H1N1. (Scutti, 6/20)

Influenza is a shape-shifter virus that could spark a global pandemic. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are working to deliver what is referred to as The Holy Grail in the fight: a universal flu vaccine that could protect against all strains of the virus. (Brangham and Kane, 6/20)

Unlike many of his friends, Paul, a divorced 43-year-old publisher in Brooklyn, wasn’t nervous about having children. But now that he has them—two daughters, ages 13 and 3—he regularly finds himself fantasizing about how great life would be without them. (Parents’ names have been changed throughout to protect privacy.) He feels terrible, he says, but he misses the freedom that he once had. He struggles with what he calls “the constant clutching and neediness and lack of ability to concentrate on anything else.” In the case of his older daughter, he finds himself unable to stop comparing her to other children that he feels he likes better, which amplifies his feelings of disconnection and guilt. (Drexler, 6/21)

In "The Man They Wanted Me To Be," Jared Yates Sexton explores the culture of toxic masculinity in America. To this day, toxic masculinity permeates offices, factories, highways, bars, locker rooms and pretty much anywhere else American men have taken it upon themselves to be strong, silent and seemingly impervious to the day-to-day brutalities they have invented and inured themselves to. This myth of the seemingly inalienable right to dominance and control perpetrated by men, especially by white males, has myriad catastrophic downsides. (Rollins, 6/20)

Karen Kwai-Ching Li, known as KC, has lived in fear of her osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bone, for almost 28 years. She was diagnosed in 1991, at the age of 10, but failed medication over two months resulted in her tumors spreading, leading to an amputation of her leg. After the surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy, she went into remission. Using her prosthetic leg to get around, she continues to see Dr. Godfrey Chan, a pediatric oncologist at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, to monitor her recovery and ensure that the cancer doesn't return. (Senthilingam, 6/19)

You may be hunched over your phone right now, worrying about reports that young people are growing horns on their skulls from spending too much time hunched over smartphones. O. K., cellphones are making us rude and inattentive, but medical experts don’t totally buy the idea that technology is also warping our skeletons. The area of concern is the back of the skull where it meets the neck, a place that already has a slight, normal bump that’s easy to feel. Two Australian researchers say they have found enlargements, or bone spurs in that region, anywhere from a third of an inch to more than an inch long. (Grady, 6/20)

Gary and Celeste Havener live 40 miles outside of Laramie in southeast Wyoming. They spend a lot of their time growing vegetables and riding horses across the prairie. A few weeks ago, Celeste fell off her horse. "[I] had a very ungraceful dismount and tweaked my knee pretty good," Celeste says. Afterwards, she lay on the ground for a while, trying to figure out how hurt she was. But she was also wondering if a visit to the closest doctor in Laramie was worth it. (Mullen, 6/20)

On the day my mother forgot I existed, I sat across from her in a small cafe in the Berkshires, watching her sip her cappuccino and delicately tear off a piece of the croissant we were sharing. As she looked up and met my eyes agreeably and impersonally, I worked to get my bearings in this new world. Ten minutes earlier, when we were driving here, she had told me she couldn’t remember how we’d met. This was two years after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (Neuman, 6/21)

The first day of summer has arrived, and so has STAT’s annual book list of great reads in health, science, and medicine. Read on for recommendations from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and CDC Director Robert Redfield. Plus, STAT readers from Boston to Ireland to Australia share their picks, in addition to our staff. Enjoy! (Mupo, 6/21)