Health & Safety

Jess Thom (left) and Jess Mabel Jones from Thom's show, Backstage in Biscuit Land. Thom's website says she's "changing the world, one tic at a time."

Tourette's Tics Are A Challenge, But Misunderstanding Of Tics Can Be Worse

5:24pm June 17, 2016

by Lisa Fine

One British performance artist does live shows about living with a constant compulsion to say the word "biscuit." Onstage and online, people with Tourette's syndrome are reaching out to clear the air.

Federal Program That Helps Patients Navigate Medicare May Be Cut

4:45pm June 17, 2016

by Susan Jaffe

Counselors nationwide have helped 7 million people choose Medicare plans, challenge coverage denials and get subsidies. But some senators just voted to spend the money on other causes.

Tommy Chreene with his horse, Lady, at home in Meaux, La. Chreene spent 26 years working on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the Ursa project, he was part of a program designed to get the workers to open up emotionally with one an

Invisibilia: How Learning To Be Vulnerable Can Make Life Safer

12:42pm June 17, 2016

by Angus Chen

Tommy Chreene saw a man die while working on a Gulf oil rig — and went right back to work. Then the oil company decided that for the workplace to be safer, roughnecks needed to share their feelings.

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Employees serve clients in a McDonald's restaurant on Pushkin square in Moscow on Feb. 1, 2010. The restaurant was the first in Russia and opened on Jan. 31, 1990.

Invisibilia Season 2: Changing Social Norms Could Save Your Life

9:51am June 17, 2016

by Alix Spiegel

When McDonald's came to the Soviet Union in 1990, it insisted that workers smile. That didn't come easy. But customers grew to like it — and workers did, too. What happens when you change a norm?

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Philadelphia's new tax will hit thousands of products containing sugar or artificial sweetener.

Philadelphia Becomes 1st Major U.S. City To Pass A Tax On Soda

8:51pm June 16, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

The new tax will hit thousands of products with added sugar or artificial sweetener. It's expected to raise millions of dollars annually for an expansion of early-childhood education.

Haitians outside a Red Cross field hospital in Carrefour, Haiti, on Dec. 14, 2010, 11 months after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Report: Red Cross Spent 25 Percent Of Haiti Donations On Internal Expenses

7:17pm June 16, 2016

A congressional inquiry finds that the American Red Cross stonewalled lawmakers as they sought to understand the charity's finances, and that it sent significantly less money to Haiti than claimed.

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People walk past graffiti art in the Providencia community of Rio, a favela that dates back to 1897.

Health & Safety

Is The Risk Of Catching Zika Greater In Poor Neighborhoods?

7:00pm June 16, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

A statement of advice for visitors to the Olympics, from WHO, initially said to avoid impoverished areas to reduce the risk of Zika. Does research back it up?

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An independent commission recommended changes to Medicare Part D, including reducing or waiving copayments for generic drugs for low-income enrollees.

More Generics And Negotiating Leverage Could Slow Medicare Drug Spending

6:20pm June 16, 2016

by Julie Appleby

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress that rising drug costs helped push Medicare Part D spending up nearly 60 percent between 2007 and 2014. There are options to contain spending.

Canoes, water, mosquitoes — what would summer camp be without them? This year, bug spray will also be in the mix.

Summer Camps Say They're Not Sweating Over Zika Risk

5:32pm June 16, 2016

by Natalie Jacewicz

Mosquitoes are part of the summer camp experience, and camp directors say they'd be hard pressed to deploy CDC guidelines for avoiding Zika virus. But it may not be an issue this summer.

The creation of eggs from skin cells and genetic screening of embryos could transform in vitro fertilization for the masses.

Will Genetic Advances Make Sex Obsolete?

2:57pm June 16, 2016

by Aurora MacRae-Crerar

Before long, human embryos will be made so easily in the laboratory that many people will choose that route for having children. The option would offer genetic control at an ethical price.