–– A Jeopardy! exec revealed the one word that could cost aspiring clue writers the job. We'll take "career-ending nouns" for $400.
Testing, testing...
Mission: Testosterone
What’s going on: As the US military conflict in Iran enters its fifth month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has laid out his strategy… for hormone testing. Hegseth announced Wednesday that he will mandate service members ages 30 and older — women included — to have their testosterone levels checked. Anyone who is deficient will be offered voluntary hormone treatment. It’s a head-scratching initiative to focus on while troops are at war, but it’s also completely on brand for Hegseth, who has pushed to create a more manly military. See also: Renaming the Defense Department the "Department of War" and challenging Fox News hosts to push-up contests. Hegseth said "our most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual warfighter" and that he aims to give his troops the "biological foundation required to sustain the fight."
Getting testy: Hegseth has already blocked promotions for military women, removed high-ranking female officers, and said women shouldn’t be in combat roles, so points for consistency? There’s much to this mandate that is still unknown — like how much it will cost taxpayers and what counts as “low” testosterone. Testosterone naturally declines with age (and has been linked to loss of muscle mass and fatigue), but medical organizations don’t agree on a single threshold for deficiency. Potentially more confusing is how this will affect female troops. Men produce testosterone at levels 10 to 20 times as high and there isn’t an FDA approved testosterone replacement therapy for women. Medical experts also note that it’s not a “more is better” hormone, and a wide range of testosterone levels are considered “normal.” As one professor of medicine told The Washington Post, “This is non-evidence-based and could cause harm.”
