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It was the first known observation of a wild animal using a plant to treat a wound, and adds to evidence that humans are not alone in using plants for medicinal purposes. (Main, 5/2)

In the early 20th century, iodine deficiency was ravaging much of the northern United States. The region was widely known as the “goiter belt,” for the goiters — heavily swollen thyroid glands — that bulged from many residents’ necks. The issue was more than cosmetic: Iodine deficiency during pregnancy and lactation often led to children with severely diminished IQ and other permanent neurological impairments. (Cavanaugh, 5/1)

Most of the time, experts say, errors and accidents go unreported in the burgeoning fertility industry, which is largely self-policed. It is not mandated to report errant episodes to the government, the public, any professional organization or even patients — despite a code of ethics that explicitly says practitioners should promptly tell patients about lost or destroyed genetic material. (Bernstein and Torbati, 4/28)

There was standing room only for the volunteers gathered near the University of Florida on a recent afternoon to learn how they could campaign in favor of a referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Among the tips they got: Don’t mention President Biden or Donald Trump by name. Describe abortion as a health-care issue, not a political one. And don’t be afraid to get personal. (Rozsa, 5/2)

Could a better understanding of how infants acquire language help us build smarter A.I. models? (Whang, 4/30)

Robert B. Oxnam, an eminent China scholar who learned through psychotherapy that his years of erratic behavior could be explained by the torment of having multiple personalities, died on April 18 at his home in Greenport, N.Y., on the North Fork of Long Island. He was 81. (Sandomir, 5/2)