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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The German cockroach is one of the most common household pests worldwide.</li><li>New research found that the species evolved to thrive in human dwellings about 2,100 years ago.</li></ul>If you ever <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-cockroaches-rats-mice-exterminator-places-avoid-infestation-2019-3">saw a cockroach</a> scuttling across your kitchen floor or a restaurant wall, chances are it was a German cockroach. The German roach is the most common of the 70 different cockroach species in the US.For 250 years, scientists didn't know where it came from and how it managed to spread to every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Now that mystery has been solved, and the answer is that it's largely our fault.The German cockroach is "a creation of human-made environments," Edward Vargo, an entomology professor at Texas A&amp;M University and co-author of a new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2401185121">study</a> identifying the roach's origins, told The Washington Post.The German cockroach can't survive in "temperate winters outdoors" and all species of cockroaches "prefer warm, moist places where they can feed on human and pet foods, decaying and fermenting matter, and a variety of other items," according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.That's why it's pretty safe to say that if human-built establishments like houses, stores, restaurants, and other buildings didn't exist, neither would these pesky pests. The researchers published their results last week in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<h2 id="6fb7a1cb-9f81-4197-9939-0d5b65745e61">Where did the German roach come from?</h2>Scientists have long understood that the species thrive indoors, but their origins remained a mystery.Through DNA analysis, Vargo and his colleagues found that the species' closest relative is the Asian cockroach. The German roach evolved from its Asian cousin about 2,100 years ago to adapt to "human settlements in India or Myanmar," the researchers reported in their paper.With advancements in transportation and "temperature-controlled housing," the German <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/home/how-to-get-rid-of-roaches">cockroach</a> made its relatively recent global spread, the researchers said in their report.<h2 id="76a46be3-d8a0-4b80-a863-ddb4fc30ecca">How the German cockroach took over</h2>The German cockroach's adaption to warm environments, ability to rapidly breed, and unique <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroachs-2014-3">resistance to insecticides</a> make them a frustratingly common presence in households.For example, in a lifetime, one adult female German roach can produce four to eight egg capsules containing up to 48 eggs each, according to Penn State's Department of Entomology. Do the math and that's between 192 to 384 roaches, if every egg survives to adulthood. But German roaches didn't migrate thousands of miles across oceans and continents on their tiny insect legs. Their global spread coincides with advancements in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-travel-photos-from-100-years-ago-1920s">human travel</a> and housing, according to the study.In particular, the researchers determined that the German cockroach's spread began along two routes, west and east of its origin in India or Myanmar.The roach's westward spread likely occurred during times of increasing "commercial and military activities of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-greatest-empires-in-history-2011-9">Islamic Umayyad or Abbasid Caliphates</a>" about 1,200 years ago, the researchers reported. Meanwhile, the pest's eastward spread about 390 years ago was likely caused by "European colonial commercial activities between South and Southeast Asia."Understanding the German cockroaches' origins could help other scientists understand how the species evolved to become so resilient against <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cockroaches-becoming-resistant-to-insecticide-harder-to-kill-2019-7">common insecticides</a>. One <a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/115/1/259/6469283?login=false">study</a> found that they're resistant to five types of common household insecticides."If we can know the origin of the species, we can try to identify the mechanism of this rapid evolution of insecticide resistance," Qian Tang, a research associate at Rowland Institute at Harvard who led the new study told the Post.

Cockroaches wouldn't exist without humans. We helped them become one of the world's worst pests, according to a new study.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis Johnson</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>On Tuesday, DNA testing startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helix-dna-testing-marketplace-raises-200-million-2018-2">Helix</a> launched a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/future-healthcare-dna-genetic-testing-23andme-2018-12">test</a> that looks at your risk of diseases like breast cancer, colon cancer, and high cholesterol.</li><li>You can buy the test online for $260, but it must be approved by a physician.</li><li>Helix partnered with clinical diagnostics company PerkinElmer to create the test, which includes genetics counseling. </li><li>The test also uses a type of sequencing that some experts say all DNA-based health <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/future-healthcare-dna-genetic-testing-23andme-2018-12">tests</a> should use.</li></ul>A genetics testing company you may not have heard of just made a big debut. The startup, called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helix-dna-testing-marketplace-raises-200-million-2018-2">Helix</a>, launched a new DNA test on Tuesday that offers some of the same health insights as those of competing tests like 23andMe, only in a format that the company claims is more comprehensive, more convenient, and more responsible.Available online, the test looks at the impact of several dozen genetic variants on your risk of diseases such as breast cancer, colon cancer, and high cholesterol.Called GenePrism, the new test is the result of a year-long collaboration between Helix and clinical diagnostics company PerkinElmer.Where a 23andMe test looks only at some of the key letters in the book of DNA that makes up someone's genome, Helix's new test looks at chapters. In addition, the test provides access to experts who can help people understand their results, something 23andMe does not do."This is potentially very heavy information," Elissa Levin, Helix's senior director of clinical affairs, told Business Insider. "We're not glossing over it."Helix's test uses a model that's similar to that of another Silicon Valley startup called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genetics-test-for-cancer-cholesterol-2018-5">Color Genomics</a>. Like with Color, a doctor is required to sign-off on the new test, but customers can buy it themselves.Helix also worked with a digital health and genetics startup called Genome Medical so that when people want to talk to a genetics counselor, they can do so digitally without needing to call or make an appointment. The test costs $260. Genetics counseling is included.<h2>Giving people 'what they need to know'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis Johnson/Business Insider"People want to know what they need to know," said Justin Kao, Helix's cofounder and senior vice president.</div></div></div>In designing the new test, experts from Helix and PerkinElmer stressed to Business Insider that they had to strike a careful balance. They wanted to give people information that they can use to improve their health without overloading them with data."People want to know what they need to know," <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaojustin/">Justin Kao</a>, Helix's cofounder and senior vice president, told Business Insider. "At the same time, we don't want to throw the kitchen sink at them."The new test looks at 59 genetic variants that are considered "medically actionable," as defined by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Genetic variants in this category must have a high impact on someone's risk of disease. When it comes to breast cancer, for example, the genetic tweaks included in the new test significantly impact whether someone will develop the disease. The variants in the test must also be variants that someone can do something about. "These are conditions where if you get a positive result, your physician will be able to walk you through how to intervene," Kao said. For example, if someone learns they have a genetic variant tied to a higher risk of colon cancer, the medical protocol is to have them start getting regular colonoscopies or bowel exams, thereby increasing the chances of finding the disease earlier.Helix's new test also stresses consumer privacy. To download your results, you must pay $499 and use <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/privacy-security-risks-genetic-testing-23andme-ancestry-dna-2019-2">two-step verification</a>, which experts have previously told Business Insider should be the norm for genetic data.<h2>What a 'negative' DNA test result means - and doesn't</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis JohnsonHelix's new test provides a more comprehensive look at your DNA, the company claims.</div></div></div>One of the trickiest components of delivering genetic information has to do with what happens when someone gets a negative result. While a positive result with the new test suggests that someone has a significantly higher risk of a disease like breast cancer, a negative result does not necessarily signify that they are free from risk or at a low risk.Providing this insight to people in a way that is both responsible and helpful can be tricky. Everything from someone's family history to how often they exercise and what they eat can impact their disease risk.For that reason, having a genetics counselor who can walk through a patient's test results is critical, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhuri-hegde-68769ba/">Madhuri Hedge</a>, the vice president and chief scientific officer of PerkinElmer's genomics division, told Business Insider."Interpretation is a big piece of this test," Hedge said.Some DNA-based health tests, such as 23andMe's, look only at a snapshot of all the genes in your DNA, otherwise known as SNPs (pronounced "snips"). While that information can have value, it is akin to reading a few thousand letters from the page of a book containing all your DNA data, Levin said.Helix's new test - like Color's - is more comprehensive. It essentially provides a glimpse at several chapters in that book of DNA. According to Hedge, that means there's significantly less wiggle room for interpreting the results incorrectly.Theodora Ross, the director of the cancer-genetics program at the University of Texas Southwestern, believes this more comprehensive approach, also known as exome sequencing, is the only way genetic testing should be done today."Doing this kind of sequencing is a no-brainer. Using SNPs [the method 23andMe uses] is just silly," <a href="https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/127180/theodora-ross.html">Ross</a> told Business Insider.Still, Ross was not convinced that the new test is a one-stop solution to delivering genetic insights to people. She said she was surprised that Perkin Elmer and Helix had not yet published a peer-reviewed paper explaining how they interpret people's genetic data."It's a black box," Ross said. "That makes me think, 'buyer beware.'"Ross also stressed that she'd like to see patients connect directly with their personal physician, rather than with someone arranged online, to ensure that the genetic information from the test is entered permanently into their healthcare record.But that doesn't necessarily rule out the utility of Helix's new test, she said. "There's some really good new genetic <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> out there," Ross said. "I'd just like to see more from them."<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/top-5-trends-shaping-the-future-of-digital-health?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=digitalhealth_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=digitalhealth_ctgr_leadgen_5-trends"></a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-cockroaches-rats-mice-exterminator-places-avoid-infestation-2019-3">Your apartment location can affect how cockroaches, rats, and mice get in. A New York City exterminator told us the places he'd never live.</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A new DNA test that lets you see your risk of diseases like cancer could compete with 23andMe - here's how it differs

A new species of cockroach that is cool with the cold has arrived in <keyword id="6355838" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York">New York</keyword> City, and they are likely here to stay year-round.
The species is called the Japanese Cockroach (its scientific name is Periplaneta japonica). It's native to Japan but has spread throughout Asia. This is the first time it has been seen in the U.S. It was found on the High Line in 2012 by an exterminator, and scientists have just published confirmation of its identity as the Japanese Cockroach by DNA sequencing. It probably made its way there in the ornamental plants used in the park. 
We don't know how big of an impact these roaches will have, but the researchers, who published their DNA analysis in the <a href="http://www.entsoc.org/Pubs/Periodicals/JEE" target="_blank">Journal Of Economic Entomology</a>, say they are similar enough to the roaches we have now they their impact shouldn't be huge.
"To be truly invasive, a species has to move in and take over and out-compete a native species," Michael Scharf, a researcher at Purdue University, told <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/AP7dba15e4c02c4b93a1f3c4b96a5fdf0e.html" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>. "There's no evidence of that, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about it."
The already-established cockroach populations in New York should keep these newcomers at bay. Their physical differences make it unlikely they would be able to interbreed and create hybrid super-roaches, the researchers said.
What sets it apart from local populations of cockroaches is its ability to withstand cold temperatures.
"It is very conceivable that it could live outdoors during winter in New York," study researcher Jessica Ware, of Rutgers University, <a href="http://news.rutgers.edu/news/cockroach-never-seen-us-identified-new-york/20131208#.UqX-ymRDunw" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>.
"I could imagine japonica being outside and walking around," Ware said. "Though I don't know how well it would do in dirty New York snow."
Normal American and German cockroaches we see here in NYC prefer temperatures in the 80s and can't survive the below-freezing temperatures outside during winter (which is why you find them inside). 
Here's what the cockroaches look like:<div class="KonaFilter image-container full"><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://news.rutgers.edu/news/cockroach-never-seen-us-identified-new-york/20131208#.UqX-ymRDunw">Lyle Buss, Univ. of Florida</a>This male (left) and female of the species Periplaneta japonica were found on New York City's High Line iin 2012.</div></div>

Cold-Resistant Japanese Cockroaches Have Arrived In NYC

<ul><li>Neoplants has genetically modified a plant to do the work of 30 air purifiers.</li><li>The Neoplants have been modified at the DNA level to produce new enzymes that can metabolize air pollutants.</li><li>The Neo P1 will be available for $179.</li></ul>A Paris-based startup ‘Neoplants’ has genetically modified a plant to do the work of 30 air purifiers. Neoplants, genetically engineered pothos (Epipremnum aureum) plant, and its associated root microbiome. The company’s first plant- Neo P1, works in hand with the <a href="https://cdn.sanity.io/files/y50klc11/staging/90a83797763b9dc7a054ea6587a46d38cb08dcbf.pdf">Neoplants</a>’ microbiome located in the soil near the plant roots. This is not the first time when the plant is being used as an air purifier. In 1989, <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19930073077">NASA </a>launched a research project to study biological life support systems for space travel. The study suggested that various plants and their associated microorganisms have interesting <keyword id="28962" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="volatile-organic-compounds" source="Orion">Volatile Organic Compounds</keyword> (VOC) removal properties. NASA didn’t find a way to recycle VOCs, but Neoplants is able to turn VOCs into the water, sugars, amino acids, and oxygen, which makes them capable of purifying air, <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="How do Neoplants work?" comment="subhead" text="How do Neoplants work?">How do Neoplants work?</cmsannotation> Neoplants specifically target a group of indoor air pollutants - benzene, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, and other volatile organic compounds, traditional air purifiers can’t efficiently capture that. The trouble is that most of the VOCs are very tiny molecules, making them difficult to remove from indoor air with regular air purifiers. Even if an air purifier somehow manages to filter the tiny molecules, they will be simply re-released by the air purifier in a different location rather than eliminating and neutralizing them completely. The Neoplants have been modified at the DNA level to produce new enzymes that can metabolize air pollutants. For instance, Neoplants- Neo P1 turns formaldehyde into fructose and BTEX compounds into amino acids that plants can later use to produce proteins. <div type="image" title="Neoplants" msid="95507168" hostid="261" sizebytes="30326"></div> The process took four years of near-constant work, but in the end, the researchers created a plant that can metabolize four major indoor air pollutants, including toluene and formaldehyde. The bio-engineered plant can even absorb certain VOCs, like benzene and carcinogen, that is present in wildfire smoke. The real breakthrough came from modifying the microorganisms present in plants' roots. The researchers inserted genes from extremophile bacteria, which survive in the environment by eating toxic chemicals. This modification boosted the plant’s pollutant-metabolizing capacity. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What’s next?" comment="subhead" text="What’s next?">What’s next?</cmsannotation> Right now, the <keyword id="15513931" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="neoplant" source="Orion">Neoplant</keyword> is a bit pricey. The Neo P1 will cost you $179, far more expensive than most typical house plants. Further, the company only has one type of plant- Neo P1 available right now. In the near future, Neoplants is looking to develop a greater variety of VOC-filtering plants. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/soon-you-might-be-able-to-touch-and-feel-the-online-products-through-your-smartphone/articleshow/94961160.cms">Soon you might be able to touch and feel online products through your smartphone</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/research/news/scientists-create-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches-that-can-go-under-search-and-rescue-missions/articleshow/94022392.cms">Scientists create remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches that can go under search and rescue missions</a>

This bio-engineered houseplant claims to clean the air as efficiently as 30 air purifiers

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-kamala-harris-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3/">Sen. Kamala Harris</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-tulsi-gabbard-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">Rep. Tulsi Gabbard</a> went at it on and off the debate stage in Detroit on Wednesday.</li><li>Gabbard went after Harris's record as a prosecutor, challenging her progressive credentials.&#xa0;</li><li>Meanwhile, Harris after the debate criticized Gabbard for her refusal to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a war criminal; his regime has used chemical weapons and torture in his country's civil war.</li><li>At the end of the day, they both made valid points about their respective records, highlighting problems they could face along the campaign trail.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories</a>.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-kamala-harris-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3/">Sen. Kamala Harris</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-tulsi-gabbard-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">Rep. Tulsi Gabbard</a> did not hold back in their attacks on one another in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday night as 2020 Democrats met for another presidential debate.&#xa0;They both made strong criticisms about each others' records and the ways in which they could cause problems for both along the campaign trail.&#xa0;At the debate, Gabbard ripped into Harris over her time as attorney general of California.The senator has sought to brand herself as a progressive prosecutor, despite often resisting criminal justice reforms as the attorney general for the country's most populous state. Harris, for example, in 2014 appealed a federal judge's decision that declared <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-death-penalty-appeal-20140821-story.html">California's enforcement of the death penalty as unconstitutional.</a> It also took Harris a relatively long time to come around on the issue of marijuana legalization.&#xa0;"I'm concerned about this record of Senator Harris. She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana," Gabbard said on Wednesday night.&#xa0;&#xa0;Gabbard's claim about 1,500 people being put behind bars for marijuana violations under Harris's watch appears to be from an article written by <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/kamala-harris-packed-california-prisons-for-peddling-pot/">the conservative website Free Beacon</a>, and is difficult to verify. But Harris is on the record laughing at a reporter&#xa0;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-smoked-marijuana-despite-past-opposition-2019-2">asking her if she'd support marijuana legalization</a> back in 2014.&#xa0;Harris in an interview earlier this year admitted to smoking marijuana while in college, and she now supports ending the federal prohibition on marijuana.Gabbard also attacked Harris on the death penalty.&#xa0;"She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California, and she fought to keep cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way," Gabbard added.&#xa0;Lara Bazelon, former director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent, excoriated Harris over similar issues in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html">a New York Times op-ed earlier this year.&#xa0;</a>"Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold&#xa0;wrongful convictions&#xa0;that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors," Bazelon wrote.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-slams-kamala-harris-criminal-justice-democratic-debate-2019-7">'You owe them an apology': Tulsi Gabbard ripped into Kamala Harris at the Democratic debate over her controversial record on criminal justice</a>Bazelon cited the case of Kevin Cooper, whom she described as "the death row inmate whose trial was infected by racism and corruption." Cooper requested advanced DNA evidence in an effort to prove his innocence, but Harris's office wouldn't allow it. After becoming a senator, Harris <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KamalaHarris/posts/10156769408692923?__tn__=-R">expressed support for the DNA testing in Cooper's case</a> and it was e<a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-newsom-cooper-dna-testing-20190222-story.html">ventually approved by California Gov. Gavin Newsom</a> this past February.&#xa0;Harris defended her record against Gabbard's criticism. "I&#xa0;did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of the state of 40 million people which became a national model for the work that needs to be done," Harris said. "And I am proud of that work."But Gabbard was unrelenting, and added, "When you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's lives, you did not and worse yet in the case of those who are on death row, you blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so."Gabbard said Harris has "no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as a prosecutor, you owe them an apology."Cooper has used up his appeals and his case now is being reviewed by the staff of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has approved more DNA testing. Cooper remains on death row and the DNA tests have not proved his innocence to date.A campaign spokesman for Harris told The Washington Post on Thursday morning that Harris was not directly involved in the decision to deny Cooper's petition in 2016.After the debate, rather than responding to the substance of Gabbard's attacks, Harris took the opportunity to dig into the Hawaii lawmaker's controversial record on foreign policy, especially her comments about Syrian President Bashar al Assad.&#xa0;"This, coming from someone who has been an apologist for an individual, Assad, who has murdered the people of his country like cockroaches," Harris said of Gabbard. "She who has embraced and been an apologist for him in a way that she refuses to call him a war criminal. I can only take what she says and her opinion so seriously and so I'm prepared to move on."Gabbard has repeatedly refused to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-syria-assad-war-criminal-stephen-colbert-2019-3">forcefully criticize or condemn Syria's Assad</a>, who has ruthlessly waged a civil war that's led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands in his country.&#xa0;Assad has sought to crush dissent via <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/11/world/middleeast/syria-torture-prisons.html">hellish prisons where people are tortured</a> and there's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/17/695545252/more-than-300-chemical-attacks-launched-during-syrian-civil-war-study-says">substantial evidence he's repeatedly used chemical weapons on his own people</a>. The Syrian leader is widely regarded as a war criminal, a designation that Gabbard has not embraced. The lawmaker met with Assad on a 2017 trip to Syria and later raised questions about reports that Assad had used chemical weapons.Gabbard once again dodged questions about Assad while being interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper after the debate.&#xa0;When Cooper asked Gabbard what her take on Assad is, she replied, "My take is one of a soldier, where I've seen the cost of war firsthand. In Iraq, serving in a medical unit, every single day confronted with that high human cost of war."Gabbard is a major in the Hawaii National Guard and deployed to Iraq in 2004."I will never apologize for doing all that I can to prevent more of my brothers and sisters from being sent into harm's way, to fight counter-productive regime-change wars that make our country less safe, that take more lives, and that cost taxpayers trillions more dollars. So if that means meeting with a dictator, or meeting with an adversary, absolutely. I would do it. This is about the national security of our country," Gabbard said.Asked if she considers Assad a torturer and murderer, she replied, "That's not what this is about. I don't defend or apologize or have anything to do with what he has done to his own people."<div></div><div></div><div></div>

Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard went after each other without mercy in Detroit. Both had a point.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis Johnson/Business Insider</div></div></div>Hello,Welcome to Dispensed, our weekly newsletter recapping all the big healthcare stories that kept our team busy this week. For those who are new to the newsletter, I'm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lydia-ramsey">Lydia Ramsey</a>, a senior reporter here on the team. I'm curious to hear what you all think of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insulin-diabetes-program-from-cigna-express-scripts-offers-25-price-2019-4">Cigna and Express Scripts' program that caps a 30-day supply of insulin</a> at $25 for patients. How many plans will pick this up? How many patients will this impact? I guess time will tell. It'll also be interesting to see how the healthcare industry taps into Alexa now that Amazon's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-alexa-adds-healthcare-skills-2019-4">voice assistant is HIPAA compliant</a>. Would you want to set up an appointment or give your doctor an update via the Echo Dot in your living room?One thing to keep an eye on: the FDA is holding a hearing about cannabis next month. One day, it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/are-cbd-cannabis-foods-drinks-legal-maybe-fda-2019-4">might be legal</a> to make foods and drinks with certain levels of the cannabis extract CBD, at least according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/are-cbd-cannabis-foods-drinks-legal-maybe-fda-2019-4">a recent note</a> from outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.New to our newsletter? You can <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/health-insider&amp;hash=f4e91136c13f3c40c496d77bc7347502">subscribe here</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/erin-brodwin">Erin Brodwin</a> had the story on the newest test out using the Helix DNA kit. It looks at risk of some of the same conditions 23andMe looks at, but includes genetic counseling and requires a doctor's sign-off. Here's what you need to know about it. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helix-new-genetics-dna-health-test-breast-cancer-cholesterol-2019-3">A Silicon Valley startup just launched a DNA-based health test that could be a big competitor to 23andMe</a></h3><ul><li>On Tuesday, DNA testing startup Helix launched a new test that looks at your risk of diseases like breast cancer, colon cancer, and high cholesterol.</li><li>You can buy the test online for $260, but it must be approved by a physician.</li><li>Helix partnered with clinical diagnostics company PerkinElmer to create the test, which includes genetics counseling.</li><li>The test also uses a type of sequencing that some experts say all DNA-based health tests should use.</li></ul>I had the scoop on venture-backed health insurer Bright Health's 2019 enrollment and revenue expectations. Those numbers, and the company's 2018 results based on regulatory filings, suggest that the insurer is managing to double its footprint every year (its first year offering plans was 2017). So far, it's been holding losses steady. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bright-health-insurance-startup-financial-results-aca-medicare-advantage-2019-3">We got a look at the 2019 plans for venture-backed health-insurance startup Bright Health, which says it doubled its membership again</a></h3><ul><li>Bright Health, the Minneapolis-based health-insurance startup that provides health plans for individuals and families and to seniors, made $145 million in gross revenue in 2018, its second year offering health plans.</li><li>According to state filings, Bright lost $17.5 million in 2018, the same as in 2017. At the same time, it doubled its membership base to more than 24,000 from 12,000.</li><li>Bright Health CEO Bob Sheehy told Business Insider the company expected to jump to about $400 million in revenue for 2019 and had signed on more than 60,000 members.</li></ul>And if you need a recap of how all the health insurance startups fared in 2018 and what's ahead for 2019 and 2020, I've got you covered.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Bright Health; Alex Wong/Getty; Clover Health; Oscar Health; Shayanne Gal/Business InsiderBright Health CEO Bob Sheehy, Devoted Health co-founder and executive chairman Todd Park, Clover Health CEO Vivek Garipalli, and Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser.</div></div></div><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-insurance-startups-clover-oscar-bright-devoted-annual-results-projections-2019-4">Health-insurance startups like Oscar Health and Clover Health have raked in $1.3 billion in the past year. We took a look at their financials, which show how hard it is to get a foothold in the industry.</a></h3><ul><li>Startups have attracted massive funding in the past few years to build new kinds of health-insurance plans - with the help of technology.</li><li>In the past year, four companies in particular - Oscar Health, Devoted Health, Bright Health, and Clover Health - brought in a combined $1.3 billion in funding.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/emma-court">Emma Court</a> has the story of the race to successfully develop a cancer drug targeting the KRAS mutation. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amgen-and-mirati-cancer-drug-push-despite-kras-failures-2019-4">A $23 billion drugmaker and a $2 billion biotech upstart are racing to develop a type of 'silver bullet' drug for aggressive cancers that has eluded their industry for 30 years</a></h3><ul><li>Pharmaceutical companies long wanted to develop a drug that would target KRAS, a common gene mutation seen in cancers. But every effort so far has failed.</li><li>The pharmaceutical company Amgen and biotech Mirati are backing two new drugs that are raising those hopes again, though it's still early days.</li><li>If these experimental products are successful, they could rake in billions in sales and help patients with few treatment options. </li></ul>Emma also chatted with the top scientist at AveXis, which Novartis acquired last year. He broke down why the Swiss pharma giant was so interested in the gene-therapy maker.<h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avexis-sma-gene-therapy-manufacturing-drove-9-billion-novartis-deal-2019-3">The top scientist at AveXis told us it got sold to Novartis for $9 billion because of this 'unique' strength that could shape the future of gene therapy</a></h3><ul><li>The biotech AveXis develops cutting-edge "gene therapy" products that could be powerful and long-lasting medical treatments.</li><li>Swiss drug giant Novartis bought the biotech for $9 billion last year in part because AveXis had figured out how to actually make gene therapies at a big-enough scale, AveXis Chief Scientific Officer Brian Kaspar told Business Insider.</li><li>Manufacturing has emerged as a huge challenge for the booming industry because these products are so new and complex.</li></ul>And for those just catching up on Thursday's lawsuit - Emma broke down the significance of the dispute between Amgen and Novartis over their new migraine drug, Aimovig. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/novartis-amgen-aimovig-migraine-lawsuit-shows-future-of-cgrp-drugs-2019-4">2 drug giants are feuding over a highly successful new migraine drug, and court documents reveal how profitable the $10 billion market could be</a></h3><ul><li>Two drugmakers, Amgen and Novartis, have worked together for years on a new type of cutting-edge migraine drug, Aimovig.</li><li>Now they're involved in a bitter fight. Amgen is trying to get out of the collaboration, while Novartis is suing Amgen to keep it in place.</li><li>Aimovig costs roughly $7,000 a year and was the first of a new category of migraine drugs to get to market. The lawsuit provides a window into how successful it has been and how much Novartis stands to lose in the disagreement. </li></ul>Out on the West Coast, Erin took a look at a startup coming out of Y Combinator that wants to crack the male birth control market. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/male-birth-control-startup-backed-y-combinator-your-choice-therapeutics-2019-4">A Berkeley-stacked startup backed by Silicon Valley's top tech hub is developing male birth control that experts call promising</a></h3><ul><li>A new startup called Your Choice Therapeutics aims to bring the first hormone-free male and female birth control drug to market.</li><li>The company debuted at a recent demo day hosted by Silicon Valley tech hub Y Combinator.</li><li>Stacked with researchers from UC Berkeley, the startup has published several basic studies in top-notch <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> journals.</li><li>Still, the field of male birth control is a tough nut to crack, and the company faces challenges.</li></ul>For those eager to hear what comes out of the PBM grilling next week in the Senate, we'll be following along. Find <a href="https://twitter.com/emmarcourt">Emma</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/lydiaramsey125">me</a> on Twitter, where I'm sure we'll post some live updates.In the meantime, be sure to send tips, thoughts, and ideas for how you'd use now-HIPAA-compliant Alexa to lramsey@businessinsider.com, or you can find the whole healthcare team at healthcare@businessinsider.com. - Lydia <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-cockroaches-rats-mice-exterminator-places-avoid-infestation-2019-3">Your apartment location can affect how cockroaches, rats, and mice get in. A New York City exterminator told us the places he'd never live.</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Dispensed: Venture-backed insurance startup Bright Health's 2018 results, a dispute between 2 drug giants, and the quest for a male birth control drug

Movies will often use live bugs on camera instead of CGI to make their story feel more real and to get your skin crawling. But getting these insects to do what you want requires lots an understanding of how they function. That's where <a href="http://bugsaremybusiness.com/">Steven Kutcher</a> comes in. He's an entomologist who has worked with insects on over 100 major projects including "Spider-Man, "Arachnophobia," and "Jurassic Park." We spoke with Kutcher about how he gets these tiny actors to do what the directors want and how no one gets hurt during the production. Following is a transcript of the video.Narrator: Some of the biggest stars in Hollywood are some of the smallest creatures on the planet. Real live insects like spiders, locusts, and butterflies play crucial roles in many memorable blockbuster films. But getting them to perform on camera is no easy task.Steven Kutcher: Rosie, lift up your leg. This leg. Come on. Oh see, she did this one. Oh, there she goes. And that's just a little trick of putting a little pressure on her back leg that causes her front leg to come up.Narrator: That's Steven Kutcher. He's an entomologist and the go to guy for all things bugs in Hollywood. He's worked with a variety of insects on over 100 films in his career including "Arachnophobia," "Jurassic Park," and "Spider-Man."Kutcher: Understanding insect behavior is really the key. It's not training them because you don't have time to train them in the film industry. When you work with insects, you wanna corral the insects. You wanna be able to control them.Narrator: He's used a number of different techniques to get the bugs to move in the right direction involving lights, air, and temperature.Kutcher: Let's say you're a bug. How can I make you move? Well, I could blow air at you, like 60 miles an hour air. You're going to move. I could light a little fire under you or set you on something that's really hot. You're gonna get up out of your seat and move. I could chill down the room. Narrator: For example, let's take a look at one of the most famous and terrifying spider films of all time, "Arachnophobia."Kutcher: The great thing about that film was it was before CGI. So we had to do everything real except for one shot.Narrator: He devised a clever yet simple rig to get all the spiders where they needed to be.Kutcher: They would say, "We want a spider to crawl into a slipper "from four feet away." So I came up with this idea of invisible vibrating wires. Chance of vibrating wires that you couldn't see, the camera couldn't see. But I could make the spider go directly to the spot I wanted it to go.Narrator: Kutcher's first big Hollywood gig was on the "Exorcist II" and it involved working with three thousand live locusts.Kutcher: There's a scene where James Earl Jones has to look at a cage of locusts and the locusts were all on the ground. But how do you move hundreds of locusts up on the screen? I said, "Get a light, a studio light that gives off heat "and shining against the side of the cage." And they did and all the locusts moved up onto the cage to be near the heat. Then they took the light away.Narrator: In "Jurassic Park," Kutcher was the man responsible for the iconic dead mosquitoes in amber.Kutcher: So it's supposed to be a mosquito. First, it's really a crane fly. And I put antenna from another insect on the crane fly. I took a bent insect pin and made it for its mouth part. I created the wings.Narrator: And he worked with a live mosquito in the DNA Explainer video.Kutcher: So I would chill the mosquito down so that it wouldn't move. And then I would drip honey on it. And then it got tumbled down with the honey.Narrator: In the 2002 movie "Spider-Man," there's a scene where Peter Parker first gets bitten. Kutcher was actually above Toby McGuire with a paint brush.Kutcher: And what the spider will do is it will crawl along the edge until it reaches this part and then it will hang on. And I would just tap it like this which would cause the spider to web down.Narrator: While he says he rarely ever gets bitten or stung, he takes precautions to protect the other human actors. In "Roadhouse 66," Judge Reinhold is driving a car and I had to have a scorpion crawl over his shoulder. So I put a little cap on the scorpion's stinger that looked like the stinger so it wouldn't hurt him.Narrator: And there's also a rule on set that no bugs are hurt during production. - In making of a movie, you can't harm a cockroach, or a fly, or a maggot. But if the fly flies to craft service, you can swat it. Narrator: He can get some of his bugs from pet suppliers, but most he goes out and collects himself. And Kutcher's home is also full of bugs, by choice.Kutcher: Right now, I have mosquitoes, crane flies, caterpillars in my refrigerator. The world is filled with people who do not like insects which is a great opportunity to teach those people the joys and wonders of all of the arthropods in the world and how you can relate to them. And when you understand how they work, the world is a better place.Kutcher: To make the spider go, I just tap her back legs. And this gets her to crawl up. To make her stop, I cover her eyes. She has eight eyes. She's just looking for a dark place.

How insects are trained for TV and movies

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div>IBHMC2/YouTubeOJ Tries on the glove</td></tr></table>ALAN MORTON DERSHOWITZ is an American lawyer, jurist and political commentator. He has held the Felix Frankfurter professorship at Harvard Law School since 1993. Dershowitz is known for his involvement in high-profile legal cases and as a commentator on the Arab–Israeli conflict.
His most notable cases include his role in 1984 in overturning the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of his wife, Sunny, and as the appellate adviser for the defence in the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995.
He is the author of a number of books about politics and law, including “Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case” (1985); “Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case” (1996); and the best-selling “The Case for Israel”(2003). Mr Dershowitz’s autobiography “Taking the Stand” will be published later this year.
What don’t we know about criminal law?
What people don’t know is that I win cases by using science. We read about Sherlock Holmes solving cases through primitive science 150 years ago—induction, deduction, simple scientific observations—but today criminal lawyers like me win cases by deep immersion in DNA, biochemistry and other forms of science. The prosecution uses science as a sword and we use it as a shield.
Can you give me an example?
I’d had 36 cases in my career involving death and I’ve won more than 30 of them, the vast majority I won using science. One of them was the Claus von Bülow case, in which von Bülow was initially convicted. They found insulin in the body of his comatose wife, they found insulin on the needle found in a case that belonged to him. We were able to prove that the insulin reading in her body was false and that the insulin on the needle was a false positive that we could replicate with saline.
I thought juries didn’t understand the scientific detail, so it’s just a question of how well you argue it.
You have to be able to turn technical scientific material into common sense. They found insulin on the tip of the needle. We were able to show to the jury, using a large turkey baster, that if you have incrustation at the tip of the needle it proves that the needle never entered the human body.
So, what happened to her then?
It was self-induced. She had taken a large amount of barbiturates, she had reactive hypoglycaemia and she’d consumed large amounts of sugar products.
Is that what he always claimed?
He said he didn’t know. He’s not a scientist and his position was simply that he didn’t do it.
Suggested Reading: “Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case” by <keyword id="1470863" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alan-Dershowitz">Alan Dershowitz</keyword> (1985)
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oj-simpson-glove-manipulated-2012-9">What about OJ?</a> He looked so guilty.
People just don’t realise that we got him off because the police manufactured a piece of evidence. They took a sock they’d found in his hamper and a police officer poured drops of blood from the victim and from <keyword id="1670701" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="OJ-Simpson">OJ Simpson</keyword> onto the sock. Firstly, the blood on the sock and only the blood on the sock contained EDTA, an anti-coagulant that’s not found in the human body. It is put in test-tubes in order to prevent blood from coagulating. Secondly, if you take a sock and sprinkle blood on it, then when it lies flat the blood will soak and imprint right through. We were able to show that on the sock in the case there were perfect mirror images that could not have occurred when it was being worn by a human being.
There was other evidence that was very compelling, but once the jury believed that one piece of evidence had been planted by the prosecution they simply didn’t believe the rest of the case. If you find a cockroach in your bowl of pasta you don’t look for other cockroaches, you throw out the whole bowl.
Do you believe he was innocent?
I can’t comment on that and that is not the basis on which I take cases.
Suggested Reading: “Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case” by Alan Dershowitz (1996)
Is the evidence always as clear and dramatic as that?
There was a man named Binyon who owned the most famous casino in Las Vegas. He fell in lust with an exotic dancer named Sandy. Unbeknownst to him, Sandy had a young handsome boyfriend and one day Binyon was found dead. The police indicted Sandy and her boyfriend because they decided that they’d ‘Burked’ him. Burke and Hare were 19th-century Scottish killers who killed their victims by compressing the chest and preventing breathing, leaving no traces.
The evidence was that they found a button mark on the skin of the deceased person which seemed to replicate the button he was wearing at the time. When I got into the case on appeal I got the post mortem photographs, had them blown up and brought them to the world’s leading expert on dermatological marks of this kind. He was able to do an analysis of the blood flow through the mark and determined that it was not caused by pressure but was a non-malignant tumour that had been on the man’s body for years. As a result of that we won the case. I tell my students that you really have to become scientists.
Remember that we don’t have to prove the client innocent. We just have to prove reasonable doubt, and science is an extraordinarily effective tool for raising reasonable doubt.
Surely once all the evidence is there, equally compelling on both sides, it’s the force of the lawyer’s argument that swings it?
No. I win cases based on the fact that I just know more about the science than the other side does. In-court performance of lawyers is greatly exaggerated—movies and TV shows are based on that. In the 21st century articulate advocacy in the courtroom is not nearly as powerful as the knowledge of and use of science.
I have another tactic I use. I never try to persuade a jury to believe me. I never say, ‘This should lead you to conclude that my client is innocent.’ I give them the evidence. I want them, the jury and judge, to have the ah-ha moment. If it’s their argument they’re going to stick with it.
You must get frustrated when you see people executed when you feel you could have got them off.
When you see lawyers who don’t know how to use science it’s frustrating. They still think they can do the Perry Mason thing. In 50 years at Harvard my main lesson is that you must use science. I was brought here to be the ‘and’ teacher. Law and psychiatry. Law and medicine. Law and genetics. Law is an empty vessel into which you have to pour other disciplines. I taught a course on law and mathematics.
How does that work?
In almost all cases I introduce some quantification, the likelihood of error. Let’s say there’s a terrible accident in which a bus doing 100mph mows down a bunch of people on Harvard Square. All we know is that the bus is blue. We know that 90% of the buses in the area are owned by John Smith. If you have a 10% likelihood of innocence, can you convict Smith?
No.
You don’t want to have ten out of every hundred people in jail falsely convicted.
And yet, you do.
No. It’s more like two or three in a hundred. But that’s too many. If we have a million people in jail then 30,000 are falsely imprisoned. Our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Suggested Reading: “Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways” by Alan Dershowitz (2007)
Click <a href="http://www.economist.com/products/subscribe/CUR22/noreg">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist

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