LAURA UNGAR

Science and medical reporter

Ungar covers medicine and science on the AP’s global health and science team. She has been a health journalist for more than two decades.

FILE - A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion during a visit to a clinic in Kansas City, Kan., on, Oct. 12, 2022. More than six in 10 of the abortions in the United States last year were done through medication, up from 53% in 2020, according to research released Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, said about 642,700 medication abortions took place in the first full calendar year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Medication abortion accounted for 63% of abortions in the formal health care system. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

More than six in 10 US abortions in 2023 were done by medication — a significant jump since 2020

New research shows that more than six in 10 of the abortions in the United States last year were done through medication. That’s up from 53% in 2020.

Cancer survivor Kailani Greenwood, who became pregnant through IVF, stands outside the capitol in Montgomery, Ala., during a rally on Feb. 28, 2024. She’s been trying to stay hopeful that IVF will resume at her clinic. But each day brings fresh reminders of the court decision. She works as a physician assistant in surgical breast oncology, and many of her patients hope to preserve their fertility too. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)

IVF gave hope to patients trying to build their families. The turmoil in Alabama put that in doubt

Women over 35 and those facing serious diseases like cancer, lupus and sickle cell are among the most likely to turn to IVF to build the families they desperately want.

This microscope image provided by researchers in March 2024 shows a lung organoid created from cells collected from amniotic fluid. In a study published Monday, March 4, 2024, in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists in the United Kingdom described how they have made mini-organs from cells floating in amniotic fluid – an advance they believe could open up new areas of prenatal medicine. (Giuseppe Calà, Paolo De Coppi, Mattia Gerli via AP)

Scientists have used cells from fluid drawn during pregnancy to grow mini lungs and other organs

Scientists in the United Kingdom have created mini organs from cells floating in the fluid that surrounds a fetus in the womb.

The exterior of the Alabama Supreme Court building in Montgomery, Ala., is shown Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a ruling critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatments. The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)

Alabama’s frozen embryo ruling is now having its first effects. Here’s what to know

Alabama lawmakers and Gov. Kay Ivey have agreed to protect in vitro fertilization providers from legal liability.

Emily Hollenbeck stands for a portrait at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center in New York on Jan. 12, 2024. Hollenbeck, a deep brain stimulation patient being treated for depression, says, “The stress is pretty extreme at times, but I’m able to see and remember, even on a bodily level, that I’m going to be OK. ... If I hadn’t had DBS, I’m pretty sure I would not be alive today.” (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

A pacemaker for the brain helped a woman with crippling depression. It may soon be more widely available

Researchers are testing deep brain stimulation as a treatment for people with a severe form of depression. Doctors compare it to a pacemaker for the brain.

FILE - An operating room technician performs an ultrasound on a patient at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La., on July 6, 2022. Doctors in states with strict abortion restrictions say an increasing number of pregnant women are seeking early prenatal testing, hoping to detect serious problems while they still have time to choose whether to continue the pregnancy. (AP Photo/Ted Jackson, File)

Post-Roe v. Wade, more patients rely on early prenatal testing as states toughen abortion laws

Doctors in states with strict abortion restrictions say an increasing number of pregnant women are seeking early prenatal testing.

FILE - A patient prepares to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion during a visit to a clinic in Kansas City, Kan., on, Oct. 12, 2022. On Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, the medical journal Sage Perspectives retracted studies claiming to show the harms of mifepristone, citing conflicts of interest by the authors and flaws in the research. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Studies cited in case over abortion pill are retracted due to flaws and conflicts of interest

A medical journal has retracted studies claiming to show the harms of the leading abortion pill. The journal cites conflicts of interest by the authors.

FILE - Elon Musk appears at an event with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London, on Nov. 2, 2023. Musk is looking to move the legal home of SpaceX to Texas from Delaware after a judge in that state voided the billionaire's $55.8 billion Tesla pay package. A certificate of conversion for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was filed to reincorporate in Texas from Delaware, which became effective on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)

Elon Musk says the first human has received an implant from Neuralink, but other details are scant

According to Elon Musk, the first human received an implant from his computer-brain interface company Neuralink over the weekend.

In this photo provided by researchers in January 2024, Dr. Yilai Shu examines a young patient at the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, after a gene therapy procedure for hereditary deafness. A small study published Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2024, in the journal Lancet, documents significantly restored hearing in five of six kids treated in China. (Courtesy Dr. Yilai Shu via AP)

Experimental gene therapy allows kids with inherited deafness to hear

Gene therapy has allowed several children born with inherited deafness to hear. A small study published Wednesday documents significantly restored hearing in five of six kids treated in China.

FILE - Bottles of abortion pills mifepristone, left, and misoprostol, right, are shown, Sept. 22, 2010, at a clinic in Des Moines, Iowa. Thousands of women stocked up on abortion pills just in case they needed them, according to new research published Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, in JAMA Internal Medicine, with demand peaking in the past couple years at times when it looked like the medications might become harder to get. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

US women are stocking up on abortion pills, especially when there is news about restrictions

New research shows thousands of women in the U.S. have stocked up on abortion pills just in case they need them.

Gautam Dongre, of the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations, sits for a portrait with his daughter, Sumedha, 13, at their residence in Nagpur, India, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Dongre recalls how his newborn son, Girish, cried constantly from stomach and leg pain. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong and didn’t diagnose him with sickle cell for 2 1/2 years. When Sumedha was born, he and his wife had her tested immediately and learned she had the disease too. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Sickle cell affects more families in Africa and India, but new gene therapies are out of reach

New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease but experts say they are out of reach in places that need them the most.

Jillaine St.Michel stands for a portrait in Boise, Idaho on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. A year earlier, she learned that her previous 20-week fetus had multiple genetic and developmental problems and probably wouldn’t survive. She lives in Idaho, which has a ban on abortions, so St.Michel and her husband called about 15 out-of-state clinics, finally getting on a three-week waiting list in Denver and a two-week waiting list in Seattle. Pregnant again, she is due to give birth to a boy in January. (AP Photo/Kyle Green)

It’s taking longer to get an abortion in the US. Doctors fear riskier, more complex procedures

Obstacles to obtaining an abortion are more common since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Jalen Matthews sits on her yoga mat in her home in Louisville, Ky., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. She was diagnosed with sickle cell at birth and had her first pain crisis at age 9. Three years later, the disease led to a spinal cord stroke that left her with some paralysis in her left arm and leg. “I had to learn how to walk again, feed myself, clothe myself, basically learn how to do everything all over again,” said Matthews, who is now 26. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

FDA approves 2 gene therapies for sickle cell. One is the first to use the editing tool CRISPR

U.S. regulators have approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease. Doctors hope the treatments can cure the painful inherited blood disorder that afflicts mostly Black people in the U.S.

FILE - A seventh grader carries her plate which consists of three bean chili, rice, mandarins, cherry tomatoes and baked chips during her lunch break at a public school in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. Experts agree that the urgency of climate change and the demands of a surging global population call for an overhaul of how humans get their protein. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

Eating less meat would be good for the Earth. Small nudges can change behavior

One of the thorniest problems of the 21st century is how to get people to eat less meat. A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most U.S. adults said they eat meat at least several times a week.

FILE - This July 2019 image provided by the Sarah Cannon Research Institute shows Victoria Gray on her infusion day during a gene editing trial for sickle cell disease at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute and The Children's Hospital At TriStar Centennial in Nashville. Gray, the first patient to test the treatment, shared her experience with researchers at a scientific conference in 2023. She described suffering with terrible bouts of pain since childhood and receiving high-dose pain medications and sometimes blood transfusions. She described feeling she "was being reborn” the day she got the gene therapy. (Anthem Pictures/Sarah Cannon Research Institute via AP, File)

A new cure for sickle cell disease may be coming. Health advisers will review it next week

There soon may be a new cure for sickle cell disease that attacks the disorder at its genetic source.

FILE - This undated image made available by the National Human Genome Research Institute shows the output from a DNA sequencer. Scientists are setting out to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African ancestry to create what they believe will be the world’s largest database of genomic information from the population. (NHGRI via AP, File)

People of African ancestry are poorly represented in genetic studies. A new effort would change that

Scientists are setting out to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African ancestry to create the world’s largest database of genomic information from the population.

An exhibit of early human species, whose faces have been recreated, are seen inside the Smithsonian Hall of Human Origins, Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

We carry DNA from extinct cousins like Neanderthals. Science is now revealing their genetic legacy

More research is showing that we carry genes from other kinds of ancient humans, and their DNA affects our lives today.

Busts of Neanderthal and hominins line a table at the studio of paleoartist John Gurche in Trumansburg, N.Y., Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Along with more fossils and artifacts, DNA findings are pointing us to a challenging idea: We're not so special. For most of human history we shared the planet with other kinds of early humans — and those now-extinct groups were a lot like us. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth)

Science paints a new picture of the ancient past, when we mixed and mated with other kinds of humans

The science of human evolution has made big leaps in recent years, and it’s painting a new picture of our origins.

Waves generated by Tropical Storm Ophelia crash up on the banks of the Potomac River along Irving Avenue in the town of Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Va., on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (Peter Cihelka/The Free Lance-Star via AP)

Weakening Ophelia still poses a risk of coastal flooding and heavy rain in some parts of the US

Nearly a day after being downgraded from a tropical storm, Ophelia is still threatening much of the Northeast with coastal flooding, life-threatening waves and heavy rain from Washington to New York City.

Katie O'Brien holds her son, Bennett, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in the birthing room where she delivered him in July at the Henry County Medical Center in Paris, Tenn. The maternity ward at the hospital closed in early September. "It's a horrible thing for our community," says O'Brien. "Any young person looking to move here won't want to come. Why would you want to come somewhere where you can't have a baby safely?" (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Rural hospitals are closing maternity wards. People are seeking options to give birth closer to home

Fewer than half of rural hospitals have labor and delivery units and the number keeps dropping. It’s forcing pregnant women to travel longer distances for care or face giving birth in an emergency room.

Brynn Schulte rides on a toy unicorn at her home in Cincinnati shortly before getting medication to treat her rare genetic bleeding disorder, Aug. 3, 2023. Brynn was diagnosed thanks to whole genome testing, which was recently shown to be nearly twice as good at finding genetic disorders in sick babies as more targeted tests. Her parents and doctors credit early diagnosis with saving her life. (AP Photo/Laura Ungar)

A broad genetic test saved one newborn’s life. Research suggests it could help millions of others

A recent study showed that tests for sick newborns that look at their full genetic blueprints are nearly twice as good at finding genetic problems as narrower, more commonly used tests.

Phil Durst, who has undergone an experimental stem cell procedure with his eyes, sits for a portrait in Homewood, Ala., on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. His left eye bore the brunt of a 2017 work accident, which stole his vision, left him unable to tolerate light and triggered four to five cluster headaches a day. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Stem cells from one eye show promise in healing injuries in the other

A new study shows a promising procedure to treat severe injuries in one eye by using stem cells from the other.

Dr. Alfonso Sabater, checks Antonio Vento Carvajal's eye under a blue light after applying a stain to check to see if more ulcers had developed, before a gene therapy treatment, Thursday, July 6, 2023, at University of Miami Health System's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. Antonio was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. He was blind for much of his life but can see again after getting gene therapy eyedrops. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Gene therapy eyedrops restored a boy’s sight. Similar treatments could help millions

Antonio Vento Carvajal has been legally blind for much of his 14 years. A gene therapy delivered through eyedrops is allowing him to see again and has opened the door to similar therapies that could potentially treat millions of people with other eye diseases.

FILE - Ansonia Lyons carries her son, Adrien Lyons, as she takes him for a diaper change in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. After two miscarriages, Ansonia became pregnant in 2020, and it was difficult. Doctors initially told her she was suffering from regular morning sickness, though she was vomiting blood. Ultimately, she was diagnosed with an excessive vomiting disorder. A study published Monday, July 3, 2023, in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows maternal mortality rates in the U.S. doubled between 1999 and 2019, that Native American and Alaskan Native populations had the largest rate increase and that, overall, Black maternal mortality rates were the highest. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

Maternal deaths in the US more than doubled over two decades. Black mothers died at the highest rate

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows maternal deaths across the U.S. more than doubled in two decades in unequal proportions.

This graphic provided by Yale University shows an image of a human embryo model. (Monique Pedroza, Ipek Gassaloglu, Berna Sozen/Yale University via AP)

Scientists use stem cells to create models of human embryos and study our earliest days

Scientists have created embryo models to help study the mysteries of early human development, the medical problems that happen before birth and why many pregnancies fail.

OB-GYN Dr. Kylie Cooper prepares dinner with her husband, Nick, and daughters, Cleo, left, and Hazel, Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Minnesota. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, many maternal care doctors in restrictive states face the choice of whether to stay or leave. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Why some doctors stay in US states with restrictive abortion laws and others leave

Many maternal care doctors in states that have restrictive abortion laws are facing the choice of whether to stay or leave after last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v.

Chef Zach Tyndall prepares Good Meat's cultivated chicken at the Eat Just office in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, June 14, 2023. The U.S. government is allowing the sale of chicken made from animal cells. California companies Upside Foods and Good Meat were granted permission on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 to sell their products by the Agriculture Department. Proponents say this “cultivated meat” is better for animals and the environment because livestock doesn’t need to be raised and killed to produce it. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Meat grown from animal cells? Here’s what it is and how it’s made

The U.S. government is allowing the sale of chicken made from animal cells. California companies Upside Foods and Good Meat were granted permission on Wednesday to sell their products by the Agriculture Department.

A prepared dish of Good Meat's cultivated chicken is shown at the Eat Just office in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, June 14, 2023. The Agriculture Department issued final approvals Wednesday, June 21 to California firms Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell the products, known as “lab grown” or “cultivated” meat. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

US approves chicken made from cultivated cells, the nation’s first ‘lab-grown’ meat

Chicken grown from animal cells, not from slaughtered birds, can now be sold in the U.S. The Agriculture Department issued approvals Wednesday to California firms Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell the products, known as “lab-grown” or “cultivated” meat.

FILE - A screen displays a patient's vital signs at a hospital in Baltimore on Nov. 28, 2016. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, June 16, 2023, suggests testosterone replacement therapy is safe for men with “low T” who have cardiovascular disease or are at high risk for it. But doctors say men shouldn’t view the treatment as an “anti-aging tonic.” (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Popular ‘low T’ treatment is safe for men with heart disease, but doctors warn it’s no youth serum

New research suggests testosterone replacement therapy is safe for men with “low T” and who have cardiovascular disease or are at high risk for it.

FILE - This undated photo shows Terry Horgan of Montour Falls, N.Y. Horgan, 27, the lone volunteer in a gene-editing study targeting a rare form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, likely died after having a reaction to the virus that delivered the therapy in his body, researchers concluded in an early study released in May 2023. (Kate Collins/The Journal via AP, File)

Researchers link death in gene-editing study to a virus used to deliver the treatment, not CRISPR

The lone volunteer in a gene-editing study targeting a rare form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy most likely died after having a reaction to the virus that delivered the therapy in his body.