HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

August 1, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• ‘Smart Tattoos’ Could Someday Monitor Your Vitals — No Batteries Required (Healthline)
• Could your cell phone charger electrocute you? (Web MD)
• Mosquito-borne brain infection found in Florida (Web MD) 
• CRISPR Gene-Editing Tool: 1st Patient With Genetic Disorder Treated In U.S. : Shots - Health News  (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Alaskan glaciers melting 100 times faster than previously thought, new study says (National Geographic) 
• Suspect Arrested In Capitol One Data Breach Affecting 100 Million Customers  (NPR)
• The rarest fish on earth rode out 10-foot waves when Ridgecrest earthquake hit (Los Angeles Times)

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

HEALTH

‘Smart Tattoos’ Could Someday Monitor Your Vitals — No Batteries Required (Healthline)

Sensors injected into the skin can detect glucose levels, UV light exposure, and body temperature, offering hope of simple and trendy health monitoring.

Could your cell phone charger electrocute you? (Web MD)

Because of their capacity to distract, cellphones and sleep are not the best of bedfellows. But besides keeping you awake, new research warns that bringing your smartphone to bed could literally shock you. The report describes instances of people who were accidentally electrocuted and burned by phone charging cords.

Mosquito-borne brain infection found in Florida (Web MD)

There's an increased risk of a mosquito-borne virus that causes brain infection and swelling, Florida health officials warn. Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) has been detected in several sentinel chickens…Only about seven human cases of the EEE virus reported in the US each year. However, about one-third of people who contract it die, and many survivors have long-term neurological problems… 

CRISPR Gene-Editing Tool: 1st Patient With Genetic Disorder Treated In U.S. : Shots - Health News  (NPR)

For the first time, doctors in the U.S. have used the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to treat a patient with a genetic disorder. "It is just amazing how far things have come," says Victoria Gray, 34, of Forest, Miss. "It is wonderful," she told NPR in an exclusive interview after undergoing the landmark treatment for sickle cell disease.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Alaskan glaciers melting 100 times faster than previously thought, new study says (National Geographic) 

Putting an old technology to novel use, scientists looked at how tidewater glaciers melt underwater. Their results were startling.

Suspect Arrested In Capitol One Data Breach Affecting 100 Million Customers  (NPR)

A woman has been charged in connection with a hacking breach at Capital One bank that exposed information from more than 100 million credit applications over a 14-year period – what is thought to be one of the largest such attacks in recent years.

The rarest fish on earth rode out 10-foot waves when Ridgecrest earthquake hit (Los Angeles Times)

The magnitude 7.1 quake that split open the floor of the Mojave Desert on July 5 shook up life far beyond its epicenter. In Death Valley National Park — some 70 miles away from where the earthquake was centered — 10-foot waves erupted inside Devils Hole, a 10-foot-wide and 25-foot-long pool that is the sole home to the endangered Devils Hole pupfish.