Jul 14 Pulses of light restored hearing in gerbils. Could that lead to higher-tech cochlear implants? By Justin Chen, STAT Could light one day be used to restore hearing? To try to answer that question, a team of German bioengineers surgically installed coiled strips of optical fibers in the ears of deaf gerbils. Continue reading
Jun 30 Justice Department announces crackdown on fraudulent opioid prescriptions By Lev Facher, STAT Federal agencies on Thursday announced charges in what Attorney General Jeff Sessions called “the largest health care fraud takedown in American history,” an investigation into over $2 billion in alleged fraud by doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. Continue reading
Mar 24 Watch 10:54 What makes eggs ‘organic’? It depends on who you ask By Sam Weber, Connie Kargbo The U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a plan under the Obama administration that required chickens laying organic eggs to have access to soil, not just enclosures attached to hen houses. But before the rule could be implemented under the Trump… Continue watching
Feb 17 This year’s awful flu season may have just hit a plateau By Helen Branswell, STAT It’s too soon to say the flu season has peaked, but it’s at least possible it may have plateaued. Continue reading
Feb 09 Watch 4:31 What you need to know about the worst flu season in nearly a decade By PBS NewsHour This year's brutal flu season is not easing its grip yet: hospitalizations are up, doctors visits have reached 2009 levels and at least 63 children have died. Judy Woodruff asks Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease… Continue watching
Jan 16 Watch 5:22 What you need to know about this season’s brutal flu By PBS NewsHour This year's flu outbreak is the most widespread the Centers for Disease Control has ever seen. Doctor visits are climbing and pediatric deaths from the illness are up as well. What makes it so severe? Dr. Amber Robins of Georgetown… Continue watching
Dec 17 Watch 10:31 How an unregulated chemical entered a North Carolina community’s drinking water By Sam Weber, Laura Fong One of about 85,000 chemicals registered in the United States are not tested for in drinking water. One of them is GenX, a man-made compound that manufacturing facilities have discharged into North Carolina’s Cape Fear River for decades. In the… Continue watching
Dec 16 Watch 10:39 Long Island residents worry their tap water is unsafe By Sam Weber, Laura Fong While most of the country’s tap water is tested for hundreds of pollutants, including volatile chemicals, pesticides, metals and bacteria, it is not always safe to drink. In the first of a two-part series, NewsHour Weekend’s Hari Sreenivasan reports from… Continue watching
Dec 10 Watch 3:46 Funding for children’s health insurance at risk By PBS NewsHour A Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, was created in 1997 to give insurance to children whose guardians make too much money for Medicaid, but not enough to afford it on their own. Last year, nearly 9 million were enrolled,… Continue watching
Oct 07 Urban noise pollution is worst in poor and minority neighborhoods and segregated cities By Joan A Casey, Peter James, Rachel Morello-Forsch, The Conversation Nationwide, neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents have higher noise levels than other neighborhoods. Continue reading