Springtime

A painting has been saved for the UK in recognition of its “outstanding significance” for the study of race and gender in 17th-century Britain, it will be announced on Friday.

The anonymous artist’s portrait of two women – one black and one white, depicted as companions and equals with similar dress, hair and jewellery – has been bought by Compton Verney, an award-winning gallery in Warwickshire.

Titled Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies, the work, part of the English school dating to about 1650, appears to be a moralising picture, criticising the use of cosmetics in altering a person’s natural appearance.

Their faces are covered in curious beauty patches that were fashionable at the time and which the painting’s inscription condemns as a sin of pride, a widespread opinion in the 17th century.

Wearers of such patches or spots – made of silk or velvet – risked provoking the wrath of God. Part of the purpose of the patches was to hide imperfections or signs of disease. The white sitter wears black patches of various shapes and the black sitter has white ones.

The painting was at risk of permanently leaving the UK after being auctioned in Shropshire in 2021. A temporary stop to allow a UK institution to acquire it was placed by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

The independent body, serviced by the Arts Council, advises the secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object intended for export is of national importance under specified criteria.

Noting that its departure from the UK would be a “misfortune”, the committee’s report stated: “The depiction of a black female sitter in a 1650s painting was highly unusual … inviting important debate about race and gender during the period.”

It added: “It visualises in a way that no other painting of the period does the early modern debates concerning the morality of cosmetics use; discourses on ideal beauty and blackness; issues concerning gender hierarchy and female agency; as well as attitudes to race and ethnicity, especially so in an age that witnessed increasing global contact through trade and colonial expansion.”

(...) A new family of nonhormonal drugs that work directly on the body’s internal thermostat is offering hope for women who can't or don't want to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Last month, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a medication called fezolinetant for the alleviation of vasomotor symptoms, the medical term for hot flushes or flashes. The pill, sold under the brand name Veozah, is the first neurokinin-3 (NK3) receptor agonist approved by the U.S. regulator to reduce vasomotor symptoms caused by menopause.

Unlike HRT, which replaces the estrogen and progesterone women lose as their fertility wanes, NK3 receptor agonists block neural activity in an area of the brain that helps regulate body temperature. That internal control centre tends to malfunction when the brain is deprived of estrogen.

For menopausal women who can’t or won’t take HRT – many still fear the treatment because of an influential 2002 study that exaggerated the risks to women under 60 – the options for relief have been limited. The same is true for the minority of women for whom HRT doesn’t work.

Fezolinetant “could be a real game-changer,” said Wendy Wolfman, director of the menopause and premature ovarian insufficiency clinics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. She is eager to have something new to offer cancer survivors who’ve been suffering through hot flashes and night sweats for as long as a decade. “Their life is hell,” Dr. Wolfman said.

It’s not clear when fezolinetant will be available in Canada. The drug’s Japanese maker, Astellas Pharma, has applied for approval in the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil and Israel, but has yet to submit an application to Health Canada. (The company said in an e-mail that it doesn’t have any details about a Canadian application to share at this time.)

It is also not clear how the new drug stacks up against HRT when it comes to alleviating hot flashes. Fezolinetant hasn’t been tested in a head-to-head trial against hormone therapy, said Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health and medical director of the North American Menopause Society.

“It appears that it’s probably not going to be as effective as hormone therapy based on the phase three trials,” Dr. Faubion said. “But it is effective.”

They were leaders in building the early foundation of modern programming and unveiled the structure of DNA.

Their work inspired environmental movements and led to the discovery of new genes. They broke the sound barrier — and gender barriers along the way.

And inspiring more young women to pursue careers in science starts with simply sharing their stories.

Listen to women from across the (Obama) Administration tell the stories of their personal heroes across the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Planning parties, ordering food and taking notes in meetings are just a few of the thankless tasks that women more often shoulder at work. Often called “office housework,” these responsibilities contribute to the smooth operation of the workplace but go unnoticed when it comes to promotions or pay raises. Fortunately, there are strategies to help you avoid getting stuck with these obligations

You might (or might not) have had a New Year's resolution, but what's your summer resolution?

Mine: Going for more hikes, camping & kayaking. And of course, staying away from reddit.

However obvious it seems today that protective gear can prevent infections, that hasn’t always been the case. Historically, even simple measures, such as doctors wearing gloves during surgery, were met with fierce resistance.

And while doctors’ lore usually credits a famous surgeon named William Halsted with introducing gloves to the surgical theater, this is a case where the lore is wrong. It wasn’t Halsted who introduced gloves but his now-forgotten assistants.