HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

November 1, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Obamacare judge refuses to restore payments halted by Trump (Bloomberg News)
• Shop Around: Subsidies May Offset Your 2018 Health Insurance Price Hike (NPR)
• Glyphosate levels skyrocket in older Americans (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Breast cancer genetics revealed: 72 new mutations discovered in global study (CNN)
• Three SDSU Students Sick With Viral Meningitis (KPBS)
• Knitting 'knockers' for Kenyan breast cancer survivors (BBC)
• Stanford to examine Las Vegas shooters’ brain (KNSD 7)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016 (BBC)
• Navy Seal killed while behind wheel of self-driving Tesla (Inside Edition)
• For bargain hunters, Amazon beats Walmart and Target (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Facebook, Google, Twitter asked to testify on Russian meddling (Reuters)
• Technologists: Public won't accept driverless cars unless they're more skilled than humans (SD Union-Tribune)
• Facebook's Advertising Tools Complicate Efforts to Stop Russian Interference (NPR)
• China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling? (Hong Kong Free Press)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Obamacare judge refuses to restore payments halted by Trump (Bloomberg News)

A federal judge rejected a bid by Democratic state officials to temporarily block the White House from ending so-called cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurers under the Affordable Care Act. A coalition of 19 Democratic attorneys general, led by California’s Xavier Becerra and New York’s Eric Schneiderman, sought to force the federal government to continue to make the payments that help insurance companies lower out-of-pocket costs for poorer policyholders.

Shop Around: Subsidies May Offset Your 2018 Health Insurance Price Hike (NPR)

An analysis released Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that while the average premium is going up, the average subsidy to help defray that cost is going up even more. The average tax credit offered to people to cut the price of their insurance will rise in 2018 to $555 — up 45 percent from this year's average credit of $382.  That means many people can take that larger tax credit and buy better insurance for less money. The HHS report shows that about 80 percent of people who buy insurance on the federal exchange could get a policy for $75 a month or less. Last year, policies that cheap were available to only about 71 percent of enrollees, the study shows.

Glyphosate levels skyrocket in older Americans (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Levels of the herbicide glyphosate have soared in older Americans in 23 years, according to a study led by University of California researchers. The study wasn’t designed to detect any potential harm from the increased exposure, but it will help with future studies to determine if any such link...

Breast cancer genetics revealed: 72 new mutations discovered in global study (CNN)

Researchers from 300 institutions around the world combined forces to discover 72 previously unknown gene mutations that lead to the development of breast cancer…. / The new discoveries add to previous research bringing the total number of known variants associated with breast cancer to nearly 180.

Three SDSU Students Sick with Viral Meningitis (KPBS)

Three students are sick with viral meningitis at San Diego State University, prompting school officials and county health authorities to work together to prevent a wider outbreak.

Knitting 'knockers' for Kenyan breast cancer survivors (BBC)

Meet the knitting group helping Kenyan women with breast cancer.

Stanford to examine Las Vegas shooters’ brain (KNSD 7)

Looking into the mind of a killer. The brain of the man who opened fire on a concert in Las Vegas will arrive in the Bay Area next week. Damian Trujillo reports.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016 (BBC)

CO2 in Earth's atmosphere jumped to a record in 2016, says the World Meteorological Organization.

Navy Seal killed while behind wheel of self-driving Tesla (Inside Edition)

Federal highway safety regulators are investigating the first deadly crash in a self-driving car.

For bargain-hunters, Amazon beats Walmart and Target (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Online shoppers in search of the best deal will find that, on average, Amazon out prices its rivals by 11 percent, according to a recent analysis of 52,000 products across 13 categories over a three-month period.

Facebook, Google, Twitter asked to testify on Russian meddling (Reuters)

Executives from Facebook, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter have been asked to testify to the U.S. Congress in coming weeks as lawmakers probe Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election, committee sources said on Wednesday.

Technologists: Public won't accept driverless cars unless they're more skilled than humans (SD Union-Tribune)

A compelling question came up Friday at UC San Diego, where engineers are discussing the near future of driverless cars: Will the public accept driverless cars if their operating systems don’t match the driving skills of a human?

Facebook's Advertising Tools Complicate Efforts to Stop Russian Interference (NPR)

Facebook says 126 million people may have seen Russian content aimed at influencing Americans. Marketing gurus say Facebook is unlikely to solve the problem because of its ad-based business model.

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling? (Hong Kong Free Press)

The dominant position that China holds in global manufacturing means that for many years China has also been the largest global importer of many types of recyclable materials.… However, in July 2017, China announced big changes in the quality control placed on imported materials, notifying the World Trade Organisation that it will ban imports of 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste by the end of the year.