Health & Safety

In the 1960s, posters gave advice to the public on the risk of a pregnant mother transmitting rubella to the fetus.

Zika Virus Isn't The First Disease To Spark A Debate About Abortion

7:00am January 31, 2016

by Jasmine Garsd

In 1965, the U.S. faced an epidemic of German measles that, like the Zika outbreak, was linked to birth defects. It changed the way this country talked about abortion.

Feds Hopeful Hispanics Will Respond As Open Enrollment Comes To A Close

7:35pm January 30, 2016

by Carrie Feibel

Sunday January 31st is the deadline in most states to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Federal officials are reaching out to those previously uninsured, with a focus on Hispanics.

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Clinton Runs As Wonk In Chief, Trying To Win Hearts With Plans

6:30pm January 30, 2016

by Tamara Keith

Clinton has more than two dozen policy proposals from Alzheimer's to drug addiction — more than 50,000 words of them. But can all those plans inspire people to caucus for her in Iowa?

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Zika Virus Reignites Abortion Debate In Brazil

5:34pm January 30, 2016

by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Increased incidents of microcephaly in infants has spurred guidance to women that boils down to: Don't get pregnant. But women in Brazil have few options.

Chart of mosquito repellents in a 2015 study

Health & Safety

What's The Best Way To Keep Mosquitoes From Biting?

5:23pm January 30, 2016

by Susan Brink

The advice for avoiding Zika virus: Don't get bitten by mosquitoes in countries where the virus is spreading. So which repellents work — and which don't?

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are displayed at an exhibition on Jan. 28 in Brazil. The mosquitoes can be carriers of the Zika virus. Several cases of the virus have spread to Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Health Official 'Very Concerned' About Zika's Spread

4:41pm January 30, 2016

by NPR Staff

An epidemiologist says the island has been lucky so far, but needs to stop the virus at its source — where mosquitoes breed.

How Scientists Are Working To Eradicate Zika Mosquitoes

10:29am January 30, 2016

Can the spread of the Zika virus be curtailed by eliminating mosquitoes that carry it? Professor Anthony James of UC Irvine discusses the consequences of pesticides to our health and on the ecosystem.

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A long vacant and blighted property was torn down in northwest Rutland this past year. The Rotary Club and other volunteers plan to erect a playground on the property as part of an effort to reclaim a neighborhood hard hit by drugs and crime.

Tragedy Moves A Community To Combat Drug Addiction

8:26am January 30, 2016

by Nina Keck

The death of a teenager in 2012 shocked residents of a small Vermont city to come together and fight its opiate problem. The efforts are paying off.

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Diane McMenamin, 14, gets vaccinated against rubella at a high school in Willingboro, N.J., in 1976.

Before Zika Virus, Rubella Was A Pregnant Woman's Nightmare

5:23am January 30, 2016

by Wendy Wolfson

Our experience with the rubella virus, which can cause miscarriages or serious birth defects if a woman gets infected while pregnant, may help scientists figure out how to combat Zika virus.

Ads for junk food significantly increased food consumption in children, but not adults, researchers found in an analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Health & Safety

Scientists Are Building A Case For How Food Ads Make Us Overeat

7:20pm January 29, 2016

by Eliza Barclay

Two new studies find that exposure to food advertising can lead adults and children to eat more and gain weight. The researchers say it's more evidence for why we need policies that restrict the ads.