STAT news

Step inside a wired nursery: Lots of tech — and not much evidence it’s helpful

By Megan Thielking, STAT

A flurry of high-tech baby products has hit the market in recent months, but experts say there hasn’t been thorough research on many of those products and warn that they can sometimes do more harm than good.

Why this Brazilian city uses tilapia fish skin to treat burn victims

By Nadia Sussman, STAT

In a historic Brazilian city, burn patients look as if they’ve emerged from the waves. They are covered in fish skin — specifically strips of sterilized tilapia -- but why?…

Skin cancer from tanning beds costs U.S. $343 million per year

By Megan Thielking, STAT

Indoor tanning has long been tied to skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the US.

5 takeaways from the leaked Republican bill to repeal Obamacare

By Dylan Scott, STAT

A formal draft of the House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act leaked out on Friday.

Immigrants, fearing Trump’s deportation policies, avoid doctor visits

By Ike Swetlitz, STAT

As President Trump continues to step up immigration enforcement, medical centers say the changes are indeed keeping immigrants out of hospitals and clinics.

Q&A: Scientists work to regenerate the cells lost after loud noises

By Megan Thielking, STAT

Humans are born with around 15,000 hair cells — think tiny, sound-sensing fibers — in each ear.

Lawmakers seek to help e-cigarette makers escape new regulations

By Sheila Kaplan, STAT

Congressional supporters of the tobacco industry have proposed legislation to help e-cigarette companies escape rules adopted under Obama.

At a resurrected climate conference, concerns loom that CDC scientists may be silenced

By Max Blau, STAT

Organizers of a conference on public health and climate change urged policy experts and policymakers to mobilize in the wake of a new administration they say has denied the impact, and even the existence, of global warming.

Broad Institute wins heated dispute over CRISPR patents

By Sharon Begley, STAT

The U.S. patent office ruled on Wednesday that hotly disputed patents on the revolutionary genome-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 belong to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, dealing a blow to the University of California.

In need of complex care, a Syrian child gets a second chance at a U.S. hospital

By Hyacinth Empinado, STAT

Jude and her family are refugees from Al-Thawrah, Syria, a town some 100 miles east of Aleppo. Their house was destroyed in a government airstrike in 2013.