FCC Releases Annual Robocall Report

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its annual report to Congress detailing consumer complaints and enforcement actions in connection with illegal robocalls.

Released at the end of 2025, the report offers insight into trends related to informal consumer complaints regarding robocalls that were received by the Commission over five full calendar years, from 2020-2024.

Over the five-year period covered in this report, the FCC received a total of 906,622 informal consumer complaints under four different provisions of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act). The total number of informal complaints during the most recent five-year reporting period represents a significant decrease from the 1,351,317 informal complaints received during calendar years 2019-2023, with most of the decreases occurring in 2023 and 2024.

This year’s report confirms that the FCC’s stepped‑up enforcement efforts over the past several years are continuing to have a positive impact in reducing the number of informal consumer complaints. After a record 333,146 informal complaints filed in 2018, annual informal complaint numbers have generally seen marked declines, with just 135,268 informal complaints filed in 2023, and 159,804 complaints filed in 2024.

Report Says Insufficient FDA Staffing Limits Oversight of Med Device Recalls

Efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the recall of faulty medical devices are being directly impacted by insufficient staffing at the agency.

This news comes straight from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to a report issued by the agency in early December, the FDA failed to meet its 3-month target for terminating manufacturer-initiated device recalls during the five-year period from fiscal years 2020 through 2024, with nearly 74% of recalls exceeding the 3-month termination goal.

The reason for the FDA’s oversight failure? According to the GAO report, “Insufficient staff limit FDA’s ability to conduct oversight activities.” The potential consequences? Insufficient staffing “can create inefficiencies in the process and potentially put lives at risk.”

According to an article posted to the MedTechDive website, the GAO’s report of oversight of medical device recalls was initiated by a Congressional request in late 2023. Further, the timeframe detailed in the GAO report occurred before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated significant staff reductions in February and April 2025, which included personnel working to support the inspection of medical devices, drugs, and vaccines.

The GAO report includes several recommendations to address the staffing gap on medical device oversight, including strategic increases in staffing and revising regulations to require device manufacturers to implement FDA recommendations for manufacturer-initiated recalls.

Astronomers Discover a Lemon-Shaped “Exoplanet”

A lemon-shaped planet?? That’s what astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have recently discovered circling a small, dense star. According to an article posted to the website of Scientific American, the odd-shaped “exoplanet,” named PSR J2322-2650b, is roughly the size of the planet Jupiter, featuring an elongated shape resembling a lemon.

The exoplanet circles a small, dense star known as a pulsar. Researchers believe that the star’s proximate gravity was the key element that pulled the exoplanet into its current shape. But the exoplanet’s shape is not the most intriguing thing about the discovery.

The exoplanet’s atmosphere is rich in carbon but contains no nitrogen or oxygen. According to the Scientific American article, when researchers observed the emission spectrum of the exoplanet’s atmosphere, they found wavelengths that aligned with molecular carbon. They also speculate that molecular carbon could be at the core of the planet in the form of diamonds!