Marianne Guenot

Selected works

European Union, 2019
European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi speaks at Brussels - EP, Brussels - European Parliament
The Lancet •

New EU Health Commissioner appointed amid controversy

Olivér Várhelyi's tempestuous confirmation process has seen pandemic preparedness and reproductive health stripped from his portfolio. Marianne Guenot reports.
Europe has a new Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare. Olivér Várhelyi, the former European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, began his term on Dec 1, as part of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's second College of Commissioners.
The new role for Hungary's Várhelyi was among the most disputed, with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) raising his connection to President Viktor Orbán and the controversial right-wing Fidesz party during his confirmation. Negotiations eventually led to sexual and reproductive health and pandemic preparedness being stripped from Várhelyi's portfolio.
Nature Medicine •

Can quantum computing crack the biggest challenges in health? - Nature Medicine

Cleveland Clinic in the USA and the
UK National Health Service are both part of a burgeoning community of researchers, health systems and companies exploring applications of quantum computing in health. Although this nascent technology is at least a few years away from having practical applications — and some are warning of the
impending burst of the ‘quantum bubble’ —
many experts believe that biomedical and
healthcare research needs to be ready for the
quantum revolution of tomorrow.
“I know we are taking a gamble,” says
Lara Jehi, Cleveland Clinic’s chief research
information officer, who leads the institute’s
quantum research. Jehi hopes that “there is a
strategic, long-term advantage in being the
group that was first.”
British Medical Journal (BMJ) •

How do GLP-1 drugs work for weight loss . . . and everything else?

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists like semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) are constantly in the news for their staggering slimming effects. But it’s becoming clear that there is more to this drug class than weight loss.GLP-1 receptor agonists were once thought to be simple insulin regulators. Now, they’re known to act on the kidneys, heart, liver, brain, and more. “I think it’s absolutely fascinating and definitely very unusual that the potential indications are expanding so dramatical...
Business Insider •

Climate change is already costing us money, but we have a chance to limit the worst of it and prosper. Here's how.

The ultimate goal, Amir Jina, an environmental economist at the University of Chicago, told Insider, should be to create a world where "climate or weather is a problem as boring as plumbing."
But to get there, we'll need to spend a lot of money up front and be real about the climate costs we're already paying — even if we don't always notice them.
Business Insider •

The moon is open for business, and entrepreneurs are racing to make billions

The moon could soon represent a market worth over $100 billion, piquing the interests of private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Nokia, Lockheed Martin, and General Motors, to develop solutions for its lunar missions such as space-worthy rides, moon streaming, lunar GPS, and more.

This new market — worth over $100 billion— could be game-changing for humanity.

"Definitely the moon is going to be a big business," said Prachi Kawade, a senior analyst at NSR, a research-and-consulting company focused on the space market.
Business Insider •

I'm an expert in obesity, a condition that is rampantly misunderstood. Here is why I'm very comfortable with a patient weighing 300 pounds.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Fatima Cody Stanford, a leading expert in obesity medicine and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I first saw this patient, I was working on my fellowship in obesity medicine in Boston. As soon as I walked into my waiting room, I recognized him.

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.

He was a train conductor
Business Insider •

Over 600 cubes of Nazi uranium made their way to the US after the war. 2 scientists are trying to figure out where they are now.

These paperweight-like cubes wouldn't raise an eyebrow on someone's desk.

"Marie Curie's granddaughter has one. She uses it as a doorstop," said an expert.

But these 2-inch uranium cubes were once important enough for the Allied forces to send a special task force, codenamed 'Alsos' to bring them back from Nazi Germany.

This story follows two science sleuths as they trace fourteen hand-sized uranium cubes back to Nazi Germany's first efforts to build a nuclear reactor, and the Manhattan Project's attempts to derail this plan.
Imperial News •

Podcast: Sounds from the Imperial Festival 2016 | Imperial News | Imperial College London

The latest edition is a Festival special as our reporters get involved in research, take you on a tour and play along with some performances.

The podcast is presented by Gareth Mitchell, a lecturer on Imperial's Science Communication MSc course and the presenter of Click Radio on the BBC World Service, with contributions from our roaming reporters.

Download the complete podcast (mp3)

OR LISTEN TO INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS

News: Psychedelics for depression and bio-glass for re-growing cartilage – a...

Journalist with nearly a decade's experience writing and editing science news, opinion, features, and investigations. 

I turn around factchecked, tight, readable copy within the deadline without compromising on accuracy. I can write for a range of audiences, from broadsheet news readers, to B2B, to high-level policymakers.

I have more than 700 bylines to my name, which have attracted tens of millions of pageviews. I can tackle a wide range of formats, from quick news hits to months-long investigations.

I love writing about health, especially obesity, the business, politics, and economics of science, tech, and the influence of the 1% on health and science. But I also cover quantum computing, AI, fusion, human evolution... If it's about science, I have probably covered it before.

Words in Business Insider, Live Science, The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, Nature Medicine, and others. 

My work has been covered by Fortune, USA Today, The Independent, Libération, Forbes, Al Jazeera, and others.

Latest works

Polytechnique Insights •

Quantum computing and AI: less compatible than expected?

With a num­ber of tech firms promis­ing to be able to solve some small real-world prob­lems with­in the next few years, it would seem that the world is on the cusp of a quan­tum com­put­ing break­through. As such there had been much hope that access to such quan­tum com­put­ing would trans­form arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence too. But a grow­ing con­sen­sus sug­gests this may not yet be with­in reach.

Fil­ip­po Vicen­ti­ni. AI is a very wide-rang­ing term. So, I’ll focus on “deep learn­ing”, which...
Polytechnique Insights •

Biological inequalities between men and women in the face of disease

When think­ing of wom­en’s health, it can be easy to go straight to men­stru­a­tion, preg­nan­cy, and menopause. Researchers are just start­ing to grasp how big a part sex-spe­cif­ic dif­fer­ences play in our bodies.

Shan­non Dunn. We’ve known about how sex influ­ences health for a while now. This was dri­ven by the research of sev­er­al pio­neers in the field who were using both sex­es of ani­mals or humans in research for decades and organ­i­sa­tions such as the soci­ety for Women’s Health Re...
Polytechnique Insights •

Endometriosis: new findings shed light on the cause

Endometrio­sis is a bur­den for a sub­stan­tial num­ber of women and those assigned female at birth (AFAB). This inflam­ma­to­ry dis­ease, which touch­es about 1 in 10 women of repro­duc­tive age glob­al­ly1, can cause debil­i­tat­ing chron­ic pain and poor fer­til­i­ty and was recent­ly found to be linked to a whole host of comor­bidi­ties. It has been his­tor­i­cal­ly under-researched, but recent advances are giv­ing the field hope. We take a look at what researchers are excit­ed about.
Polytechnique Insights •

What happens in our brains during sleep? - Polytechnique Insights

There are few expe­ri­ences more uni­fy­ing than sleep. Sci­en­tists have nev­er found a human who does not sleep. And for that mat­ter, no one has ever, delib­er­ate­ly or acci­den­tal­ly, made a mouse mod­el that can eschew sleep entire­ly. Sleep puts ani­mals in an intense­ly vul­ner­a­ble state — while sleep­ing they could be attacked, injured, or eat­en — but evo­lu­tion has not done away with it, sug­gest­ing it is essen­tial to sur­vival. Still, despite intense aca­d­e­m­ic scruti­ny, res...
British Medical Journal (BMJ) •

How do GLP-1 drugs work for weight loss . . . and everything else?

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists like semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) are constantly in the news for their staggering slimming effects. But it’s becoming clear that there is more to this drug class than weight loss.GLP-1 receptor agonists were once thought to be simple insulin regulators. Now, they’re known to act on the kidneys, heart, liver, brain, and more. “I think it’s absolutely fascinating and definitely very unusual that the potential indications are expanding so dramatical...
Polytechnique Insights •

Drugs alone won't be enough to solve the obesity crisis

Drugs alone won’t be enough to solve the obesity crisis

Semaglu­tide, Ozem­pic, Wegovy… The names of these drugs have been seen across many head­lines recent­ly as they have shown promis­ing results for peo­ple with obe­si­ty, in and out of the lab. These drugs—designed to mim­ic gut hor­mone glucagon-like pep­tide 1 (GLP‑1)—have been tout­ed as near-mir­a­cles at a time when the obe­si­ty epi­dem­ic is rag­ing, with about 1 in 8 now liv­ing with the dis­ease. But can they real­ly solve a med­i

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