How 3M Execs Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe — ProPublica
Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.
https://www.americanscientist.org/
Researchers use chatbots to help Spanish-speaking patients get genetic testing | Fronteras
More than 25 million people in the U.S. have limited English proficiency — a hindrance to accessing effective health care.Now, cancer-communication researchers are working to lower that barrier using Spanish-speaking chatbots.Limited English proficiency inhibits everything from acquiring benefits to..
Engine fails, stops moon landing of craft criticized by Navajo for carrying human remains | KJZZ
NASA’s privately built Peregrine lander, which carries a cargo of human remains that drew criticism from the president of the Navajo Nation, is now unable to land on the moon’s surface.A failure in Peregrine’s propulsion system depleted its propellant and sent it tumbling just hours after a flawless..
NASA, the Navajo Nation and human remains on the moon: The trouble with the private sector in space | KJZZ
NASA has launched its mission to place the first-ever commercially built lander on the moon.It should have been a landmark moment, a coming out party for everyone involved: for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program; for the first launch of United Launch Alliance’s 200-foot Vulcan r..
University partnership offers free hearing health care for uninsured adults | KJZZ
The Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (ACDHH) is partnering with University of Arizona on the Hearing Healthcare Assistance Project, which provides free hearing health care for eligible people ages 21 and older who lack insurance.The project began at Arizona State University in..
NASA weighs Navajo Nation objections to taking human remains to the moon | Fronteras
Next week, NASA will respond to a Navajo Nation request to delay a moon launch that could carry cremated human remains.The ashes come from private companies known for offering memorial services in space.In 1998, NASA drew objections from the Navajo Nation when its Lunar Prospector carried an ounce o..
These sounds make no echoes. UA researchers say that's important for cellphones and more | KJZZ
When the cutting edges of math, science and engineering meet, things get weird: Light bends around corners; fabrics grow wider as you make them longer; doughnuts begin to look like coffee mugs.In acoustics, researchers have spent decades working with strange forms and novel materials to bend and foc..
Confusion over 'use by' labels causes 7% of food waste in the U.S. | KJZZ
‘Tis the season to make way more food than we can eat.But research shows our own perceptions about food date labels might play a major role in food waste, too.The Congressional Research Service reports that confusion over food date labels accounts for 7% of food waste in the U.S.With no federal over..
National health crisis touches all aspects of social connection | Fronteras
In May, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory regarding a national health crisis of loneliness and isolation.Recently, a panel of experts discussed the mental, physical and societal impacts of the problem, which predates COVID-19 by decades but worsened during the pandemic.
Data correction shows non-Hispanic AI/AN population has second-highest melanoma rate in U.S. | Fronteras
A new study that corrects the underreporting of cancer among American Indian/Alaska Native populations shows the non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native population, known as AI/AN, has the second highest incidence of melanoma.People from AI/AN populations are often racially misclassified in c..
Valleywise opens new First Episode Center in Mesa for people experiencing psychosis | KJZZ
Valleywise Health has opened a new First Episode Center in Mesa.The treatment and support facility will help people experiencing psychosis or other serious mental health issues.Psychosis can occur at any age and makes itself felt through symptoms such as unusual thoughts, behaviors, fears and suspic..
Holidays are ‘more stressful than tax season’ says American Heart Association survey | KJZZ
It may be “the most wonderful time of the year,” but a new survey by the American Heart Association (AHA) shows it’s also the “stress, stressful-est season of all.”In a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide, more than half of respondents said the holiday season is more stressful than tax season, that th..
What about some shut-eye while pulling Santa's sleigh? Reindeer can sleep while eating, study says | KJZZ
Reindeer don’t get much sleep: In a herd, they take turns grabbing short naps; when fearful of predators, one hemisphere of their brain sleeps while the other keeps watch.Now, a study published in Current Biology shows they can sleep while eating, too.Whether carb-loading before pulling Santa’s slei..
Toothbrushing linked to lower hospital-acquired pneumonia rates in ICUs | KJZZ
Pneumonia ranks among the most common and deadliest hospital-acquired illnesses, killing 20%-30% of those it infects.But a new study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine suggests better oral hygiene could take a bite out of those numbers.
Cat video helps ASU-led Psyche mission successfully test 'space broadband' | KJZZ
The ASU-led Psyche mission has reached a milestone in testing a kind of “space broadband.”NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system can multiply data speeds 10- to 100-fold compared to current radio systems, which NASA has used for more than half a century.KJZZ has been following the mi..
Study finds benefits of uniting climate mitigation, adaptation | KJZZ
The UN COP 28 climate talks have ended, and only time will tell how their outcomes affect greenhouse emissions.But with extreme climate events already upon us, a new study in the journal Nature Cities asks, “What if we lessen heat impacts while the slow mitigation process takes hold?”
As vote nears, world leaders vie over roles and rules for stopping next pandemic | KJZZ
The COVID-19 pandemic saw many abuses of the legally binding International Health Regulations (IHR).Now, with a vote on IHR amendments looming this March, some fear that world leaders aren’t doing enough to guard against future pandemics.The vote concerns both a new treaty on pandemics and a proposa..
Study on El Nino, Sierra Nevadas and rain could help guide Arizona water management | KJZZ
Water management in the drought-stressed West is complicated by the interplay between mountains and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).Now, new research in the journal Nature Water clarifies how ENSO affects the West differently in the south than in the north.The warming of waters in the centra..
Wildfires can convert contents of some soils to carcinogens | KJZZ
Wildfire frequency and severity are rising under climate change and, with them, health concerns about the potentially harmful contents of smoke and soot.New research in the journal Nature Communications expands those worries.The fact that dust and smoke from wildfires near urban margins can hold res..
Researchers patent spider silk microphone | KJZZ
From adhesives to airplane parts, spider-web silks have long inspired inventors with their featherweight strength and flexibility.One day, we might even broadcast through microphones made of the stuff.Most microphones mimic the human ear: Acoustic waves cause vibrations in a thin, eardrum-like diaph..
Seniors using Medicare Part D are overpaying for prescriptions, study says | KJZZ
Medicare is meant to keep healthcare affordable for seniors.But a new JAMA study of 50 generic drugs suggests Part D participants are overpaying for drugs because private insurers are artificially inflating costs.Three-quarters of Medicare recipients are enrolled in Part D plans, which cover prescri..
Racial, ethnic groups still underrepresented in gynecologic cancer clinical trials | KJZZ
Racial and ethnic underrepresentation remains widespread in clinical studies.Now, a new paper in the journal JAMA Network Open takes a fresh look at how the problem affects research into gynecologic cancers, which affect more than 25,000 Arizonans.The study of more than 560,000 women with endometria..
NIH funds $9M Indigenous-led Tribal Data Repository partly housed at ASU | KJZZ
The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, an NIH program launched three years ago to improve COVID-19 diagnostics, has awarded $9 million to support the first Indigenous-led Tribal Data Repository in the U.S.“It's an absolutely beautiful way for not only respecting tribal data so..
Crypto mining guzzles a tanker truck of water per transaction | KJZZ
Most studies of cryptocurrency’s environmental impact focus on power generation.But new calculations published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability reveal a staggering and growing impact on water usage as well.Crypto miners get paid by throwing gargantuan amounts of computing power at otherwis..
