Hearing Loss Reversal, Oscars, and the World's Best Cities

Hearing Loss Breakthrough

An 11-year-old boy with congenital hearing loss is able to hear for the first time thanks to an experimental gene therapy treatment, according to initial results released yesterday.

Aissam Dam was born with hearing loss caused by a mutated single gene known as otoferlin, which affects roughly 200,000 people globally. Otoferlin is a protein in the inner ear's hair cells that allows for sound to be transmitted to the brain. Dam became the first patient in the US to undergo a surgical procedure at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in October, in which doctors replaced the mutated otoferlin gene in Dam's ears with a functional gene. The gene therapy trial showed Dam's hearing was restored within 30 days of the procedure, reducing his hearing loss severity from total to mild (see chart).

The trial from Philadelphia is one of five that are underway, with others in China and Europe. Results from all five trials are set to be presented next month. See the science behind hearing here (via YouTube).

Oscar Nominations Released

Nominations for the 96th annual Academy Awards were announced yesterday, led by “Oppenheimer” with 13 nods and “Poor Things” with 11. "Killers of the Flower Moon” (10 nominations) star Lily Gladstone makes history as the first Native American woman to be nominated for best actress, while director Martin Scorsese becomes the most-nominated living movie director. The box-office hit "Barbie," which grossed $1.4B globally, received eight nominations.

Jodie Foster earned a supporting actress nod, her first Oscar nomination in 29 years, while 91-year-old composer John Williams, the most-nominated living person in Oscar history, received his 54th nomination. And, for the first time, three foreign-language films are nominated for best picture. This year’s Oscars are the first with new eligibility criteria for best picture, requiring films to meet two of four representation and inclusion standards.

See the biggest snubs and surprises here. The ceremony takes place live March 10 (7 pm ET, ABC), with Jimmy Kimmel returning as host for a fourth time. 

See the Muppet version of each best picture nominee here (via X).

Holocaust Survivors Report

Over 245,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors are alive today globally, according to a report published yesterday by a group responsible for survivor claims. The report—considered the most comprehensive available—was released ahead of Saturday's International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Roughly 6 million Jews were systematically executed, primarily by poison gas or mass shootings, during World War II as part of the National Socialists' plans to form an ethnically German state (see history). Learn how historians arrived at the death toll here. 

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has facilitated nearly $90B in compensation from the German government for Jewish survivors since 1952 via direct payments, healthcare costs, and more. Roughly half of survivors live in Israel, a fifth reside in Western Europe and the US each, and another 12% in Russia. Almost all survivors were children at the time, with a median age today of 86. Read some of their stories here. Find the full report here.

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