Abstracts: Vaccines, Monarchs, and More

• A lack of coordination between government and private industry may threaten several concurrent cancer moonshots. (Nature)

• The Mexican town of Angangueo is a stopping place for millions of Monarch butterflies as they migrate south. But a local mining company may soon get approval to reopen a mine in the middle of the butterfly reserve. (New York Times)

Anti-vaxxers are seeking doctor’s notes to excuse their children from receiving otherwise required vaccines. (Visual by iStock.com)

• Geographic and economic studies reveal a growing gap between the wealthiest 20 percent and a dwindling middle class. (New York Times)

• Those against child vaccinations have found a new loophole to avoid legal requirements to vaccinate their children: a doctor’s note. (Vice: Motherboard)

• New York City joins the debate over whether or not to charge fees for plastic bags. (The New Yorker)

• A new study suggests that the average American is more than five times likelier to die during a human-extinction event than in a car crash. (The Atlantic)

• The eastern Indian state of Bihar prohibits daytime cooking for the first time to prevent fires in the heat-wave stricken state. (The Guardian)

• All countries except the U.S. and New Zealand prohibit pharmaceutical companies from directly advertising drugs to citizenry, and with good reason. (Scientific American)

• Despite a recent history-making flight across the Pacific, solar powered airplanes are still a long way off from transporting most of us. (Washington Post)

• And finally: The Harvard School of Public Health is opening a Happiness Center to study the health impacts of emotional well-being. (The Atlantic)