Humans

2 Top Michigan Officials Face Criminal Charges Over Flint Water Crisis

7:22pm June 14, 2017

by Rick Pluta

The director of the state's Department of Health and Human Services, Nick Lyon, and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Eden Wells are the highest-ranking state officials to be charged in the crisis.

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Justine Orr (right), program manager for Our Place Day Services, helps David Breuer chop tomatoes during a cooking class at the center north of Milwaukee. Nearly all the center's clients pay for services with funds from Medicaid.

Medicaid Cuts In Wisconsin Would Undermine Training For Adults With Disabilities

5:38pm June 14, 2017

by Alison Kodjak

Job-coaching and other support services that enable many adults to live in the community instead of institutions will likely be curtailed if the GOP plan to shrink Medicaid becomes law.

When the neurons that release the neurotransmitter dopamine die, people develop Parkinson's disease.

Brain Cell Transplants Are Being Tested Once Again For Parkinson's

5:06pm June 13, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

In 2003, researchers declared a moratorium on the use of transplanted brain cells to treat Parkinson's disease. Now, armed with better cells, they're giving the approach another try.

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Olutosin Oduwole at his home in New Jersey.

Rap on Trial: How An Aspiring Musician's Words Led To Prison Time

9:01pm June 12, 2017

Olutosin Oduwole was a college student and aspiring rapper when he was charged with "attempting to make a terrorist threat." We explore how perceptions of rap music may have played a role.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its last Zika travel advisory for Miami-Dade County last week, residents and visitors to Miami's popular South Beach neighborhood were relieved. Still, doctors say, pregnant women should continue

Is Zika Still A Problem In Florida And The Caribbean?

7:18pm June 12, 2017

by Michaeleen Doucleff

The Zika outbreak in Florida is officially over. And cases are dropping across the Caribbean. But doctors say the risk to pregnant women there — whether residents or travelers — isn't gone.

Older adults who own dogs walk more than those who don't own dogs, and that they're moving at a good clip, a study finds.

Dog Owners Walk 22 Minutes More Per Day. And Yes, It Counts As Exercise

6:36pm June 12, 2017

by Allison Aubrey

A new study finds dog owners on average walk 22 more minutes more per day compared to people without dogs. The benefits of walking include a lower risk of heart disease and premature death.

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How To Apply The Brain Science Of Resilience To The Classroom

12:31pm June 12, 2017

by Anya Kamenetz

A nonprofit called Turnaround for Children helps schools meet the needs of children facing poverty and adversity.

Psychologist Phil Tetlock thinks the parable of the fox and the hedgehog represents two different cognitive styles. "The hedgehogs are more the big idea people, more decisive," while the foxes are more accepting of nuance, more open to using different app

The Triumphs And Perils Of 'Going Big'

11:58am June 12, 2017

by Shankar Vedantam

Don Laub was a pioneering surgeon — one of the first in the U.S. to perform gender reassignment surgeries, but tragedy came when he traveled to Mexico to provide free surgeries to children.

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Opana ER, a potent extended-release opioid, was approved by the FDA for pain management in 2006. But the agency says Endo's attempts to reformulate the pills to make them harder to crush, dissolve and inject have not been successful.

FDA Calls On Drugmaker To Pull A Powerful Opioid Off The Market

8:56pm June 08, 2017

by Rob Stein

The Food and Drug Administration says abuse of the painkiller Opana ER has fueled an outbreak of HIV, hepatitis C and a serious blood disorder, though it was reformulated to try to reduce abuse.

Michelle Flandez's son Inti Perez — pictured at home in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in 2016 — was born with microcephaly linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

CDC Reveals Sharper Numbers Of Zika Birth Defects From U.S. Territories

6:13pm June 08, 2017

by Richard Harris

About 5 percent of pregnant women infected with Zika in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories last year had babies with birth defects, says the federal health agency. And the risk isn't over.