Health & Safety

Chickens on a chicken farm in Lichtenburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 23, 2023.

South Africa culls millions of chickens in an effort to contain bird flu outbreaks

3:14am October 04, 2023

by The Associated Press

The outbreaks hit an industry struggling from an electricity crisis. One expert said three recent bird flu outbreaks have caused losses of at least $25 million to South Africa's poultry industry.

A Kenyan child receives the world's first malaria vaccine, approved nearly two years ago. This week, the World Health Organization approved a second vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease. It's called R21/Matrix-M and is intended for children between 5 and 36 months, who are among the most vulnerable to the disease.

Health & Safety

A 'dream' come true: Now there are 2 vaccines to slash the frightful toll of malaria

4:28pm October 03, 2023

by Ari Daniel

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.Tedros, says he used to "dream of the day when we would have a ... vaccine against malaria. Now, we have two."

'Eve' author says medicine often ignores female bodies. 'We've been guinea pigs'

1:43pm October 03, 2023

by Tonya Mosley

Author Cat Bohannon says there's a "male norm" in science that prioritizes male bodies. Female bodies have been left out of countless clinical studies, and research is only just starting to catch up.

Queue Listen Now

Alexis Perkins, 25, tried to get a prescription for PrEP during a recent visit to her OB-GYN in Atlanta, but her doctor did not feel confident prescribing it.

Health & Safety

PrEP prevents HIV infections, but it's not reaching Black women

7:57am October 03, 2023

by Sam Whitehead

A significant number of new HIV infections happen among Black women, and a health education effort in Atlanta wants to make sure Black women can access the HIV-prevention medicines known as PrEP.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

Montana inmates with mental illness languish in jail awaiting treatment before trial

5:00am October 03, 2023

by Aaron Bolton

A long waiting list at Montana's only state-run psychiatric hospital has left inmates untreated and stuck in county jails. To fix it, health officials want changes to involuntary commitment laws.

Queue Listen Now

Two scientists win Nobel Prize for research that led to COVID-19 vaccines

4:40pm October 02, 2023

by Rob Stein

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine played a crucial role in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Queue Listen Now

Kiran Joshi fills a copper vessel with water from Ashwanaula, a groundwater spring in the village of Raushil, where she lives with her family

As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs

4:15pm October 02, 2023

by Namrata Kolachalam

In the Himalayan foothills, water is getting harder to come by. Villagers in one region of northern India are learning how to recharge the groundwater-fed springs they depend on.

Queue Listen Now

Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly Thomas Perlmann speaks in front of a picture of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm on Monday.

Nobel Prize goes to scientists who made mRNA COVID vaccines possible

2:37pm October 02, 2023

Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó and American immunologist Drew Weissman found that a chemical change to genetic code called mRNA eliminated a problematic side effect when used in vaccines.

Queue Listen Now

New research probes the relationship between certain genes and brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

Brain cells, interrupted: How some genes may cause autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia

9:25am October 02, 2023

by Jon Hamilton

Researchers have identified 46 genes that can disrupt a process that is critical to early brain development. The finding could help scientists find new treatments for disorders including autism.

Queue Listen Now

Hospitals are some of the biggest carbon polluters almost no one thinks about. The American health care system accounts for an estimated 8.5% of the country's carbon footprint.

Health & Safety

Health care has a massive carbon footprint. These doctors are trying to change that

7:19am October 02, 2023

by Reid Frazier

Around the country, health care workers continue to grapple with their industry's massive carbon footprint. In Pittsburgh, doctors formed Clinicians for Climate Action to address the problem.