Cancer care, avatar therapy, and more...
Issue No. 2 • November 2026
After Cancer
Mariah Forster Olson was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of 1. She was declared cancer-free at age 8, but her health issues continued to mount. Visual: Caroline Yang for Undark
Dear Undark Readers,
Election day is nearly upon us here in the U.S., and like so many midterm cycles before it, this one faced no shortage of divisive issues: immigration, inflation, the cost of healthcare, the limits of presidential power, and even the integrity of elections themselves. In the din of negative campaign advertising and amplified social media bickering, however, the stakes can start to feel abstract — an angry, epic tug-of-war over competing visions of America.
On the ground, though, the downstream questions that flow from any outcome remain deeply personal, as Undark contributor Jyoti Madhusoodanan makes clear with her cover story this month on the many obstacles faced by cancer survivors long after they’ve officially finished treatment. “Being declared in remission or cancer-free is not the same thing as being healthy or feeling well,” Samantha Siegel, a physician in California who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in her late 30s, shared with Madhusoodanan.
Cancer survivors have a heightened risk of developing other types of cancer, as well as heart disease, mental health disorders, and chronic pain, among other issues. And as Siegel and other clinicians note, healthcare systems are frequently ill-equipped to provide these patients — whose needs are often different from the typical patient — with proper long-term support.
Whether improvements in that long-term care can be expected to flow from this month’s midterm elections remains to be seen. But Madhusoodanan’s conscientious portrayal is precisely the sort of incisive reporting that has given Undark its staying power, and we’re proud to bring you her story this month — alongside a fresh collection of other features, essays, and reviews at the messy intersection of science, economics, and politics.
If you have thoughts on our coverage, we’d love to hear about it; you can email me directly at [email protected]. And as always, thanks for your support of Undark.
Jane Reza
Deputy Editor
Also featured this month
BY FRIEDA KLOTZ | New technologies could tackle treatment-resistant conditions, but some experts in the field are wary.
BY PETER ANDREY SMITH | In the burgeoning field of aeroecology, public data and artificial intelligence power migration forecasts.
BY CLAUDIA LOPEZ LLOREDA | After years of limited oversight, the FDA has warned 2,200 clinical trial sponsors about missing results.
BY SARA TALPOS | Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey has developed a novel implant to help arthritis sufferers who have trouble taking medication.
BY JOHN SCHWARTZ | From rampaging bears to zero-G toilets, Alex Davies reveals how test engineers make us safer in “Kobuk the Destroyer.”
Access the full issue at undark.org/issue/november-2026
Support Undark
Undark is produced and distributed online free of charge, with generous support from the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT. But we also rely on donations from readers like you. If you value evidence-based, fact-checked, nonpartisan journalism at the intersection of science and society, please consider making a donation.
Quote of the month
”One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”
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