Humans

A chalkboard "bucket list" stirred imaginations and got people talking at an Indianapolis festival designed to help make conversations about death easier.

Death Talk Is Cool At This Festival

9:54am May 29, 2016

by Jake Harper

How to make thinking about death less somber? Hold a festival! Indianapolis did. Through art, film and book talks, residents explored everything from bucket lists to advance directives and cremation.

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Doctors Discover First U.S. Case Of Bacteria Resistant To Last Resort Antibiotics

6:49pm May 26, 2016

by Rob Stein

Doctors are reporting the first case in the U.S. of a bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics often used as a last resort. The germ was found in a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman with a urinary tract infection.

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Pharmacists in California will have to give women a short health consultation before providing contraceptives without a prescription.

It's Still Hard To Get Birth Control Pills In California Without A Prescription

8:49am May 26, 2016

by Kelly O'Mara

California law now permits pharmacists to sell many types of hormonal birth control methods without a doctor's OK. But good luck finding a drugstore that will dispense the contraceptives that way.

Science

When Cars Collide, Safety Advocates Say It's No 'Accident'

4:32pm May 25, 2016

The New York Times reported this week on the movement to get people to stop using the word "accident" when describing auto incidents and instead use the word "crash," as a way to hold people responsible for their actions. NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Peter Norton, a historian of engineering and society, about how the word "accident" came to be used by the manufacturing and auto industries.

Hidden Brain takes a look at the 'Replication Crisis' in scientific experimentation.

Science

When Great Minds Think Unlike: Inside Science's 'Replication Crisis'

12:58pm May 24, 2016

by NPR Staff

Lots of psychology studies fail to produce the same results when they are repeated. Does that mean we shouldn't trust science?

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Inventing A Machine That Spits Out Drugs In A Whole New Way

3:36pm May 23, 2016

by Martha Bebinger

A refrigerator-sized machine could someday make lifesaving drugs on site when outbreaks occur or where medicine is in short supply, like on the battlefield.

To Put An End To Her Daughter's Bullying, A Mother Takes A Page From Darwin

8:54am May 22, 2016

Leslie Blanchard worried her daughter might bully another child, and decided to nip it in the bud. She tells NPR's Rachel Martin how she did it.

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The FDA is is expected to decide by May 27 whether a long-acting, implantable version of this anti-addiction drug, buprinorphine, will be available in the United States. The implant is more convenient, proponents say, and less likely to be abused.

FDA Considering Pricey Implant As Treatment For Opioid Addiction

2:56pm May 20, 2016

by Martha Bebinger

The FDA could soon approve an implantable form of a drug used to treat opioid addiction. While the approach helped patients avoid relapse in tests, its price may be prohibitive for some, doctors say.

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Gerald Franklin, who was diagnosed with autism as a child, is now lead developer for a website that matches workers with prospective employers. Job-related videos, he says, can help people with special needs showcase their talent.

Autism Can Be An Asset In The Workplace, Employers And Workers Find

8:47pm May 18, 2016

by Yuki Noguchi

Roughly 40 percent of young adults with autism spectrum disorder aren't finding jobs. But some employers are now recruiting adults on the spectrum as an untapped talent pool of focused workers.

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James Cason, the mayor of Coral Gables, Fla., says elected officials on the coast should be thinking at least as much about the local effects of climate change as about trash collection and parking.

Rising Sea Levels Made This Republican Mayor A Climate Change Believer

5:50pm May 17, 2016

by Christopher Joyce

Already, neighborhoods flood more often in Coral Gables, Fla., and water has seeped up from beneath low-lying buildings and yards. Mayor James Cason wants his city prepared for the economic fallout.