HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

May 7, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH


• Tyson Foods plans to cut human antibiotics in U.S. chicken flocks by 2017 (Reuters)
• Why the conventional wisdom on hospice care was wrong (APM Marketplace)

TECH


• Measuring Earthquakes With More Than Just One Scale (NPR)
• EU to require cars to have automatic emergency call systems(AP)
• EU looks to cut use of flimsy plastic bags by 80 percent (AP)

NATURE


• Amazon: 1% of trees store 50% carbon (BBC)
• VIDEO: New York turns lights off for birds (BBC)
• Man-made Global Warming Likely to Be Moderate, Says Study (Reason)
• The green movement heads underground (APM Marketplace)

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

HEALTH


Tyson Foods plans to cut human antibiotics in U.S. chicken flocks by 2017 (Reuters)

Tyson Foods Inc, the largest U.S. poultry producer, plans to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in its chicken flocks by September 2017 - one of the most aggressive timelines yet set by an American poultry company.The Arkansas-based chicken and meat giant also said it is working on ways to curtail such on-farm drug practices at its other protein businesses, which include pork and beef.

Why the conventional wisdom on hospice care was wrong (APM Marketplace)

Conventional wisdom has been that hospice care at the end of life will improve someone’s final days and save money. It’s certainly cheaper to have a team of caregivers check on someone a few times a day compared to stays in intensive care units. But it turns out that was wrong, according to a New England Journal of Medicine reportout Wednesday.

TECH


Measuring Earthquakes With More Than Just One Scale (NPR)

Earthquakes seem to be at their cruelest when striking developing nations like Nepal. A research center has tried to calculate how vulnerable nations are based on their resources and coping skills. Don't miss, Dex. Roundup, Miriam.

EU to require cars to have automatic emergency call systems(AP)

All new vehicles in the European Union will have to be fitted as of 2018 with a system that automatically calls the emergency services in case of an accident. 

EU looks to cut use of flimsy plastic bags by 80 percent (AP)

The European Parliament has approved rules to clamp down on the use of flimsy plastic bags that are hazardous for the environment, removing the last major hurdle to pass the legislation. 

NATURE


Amazon: 1% of trees store 50% carbon (BBC)

About 1% of all the tree species in the Amazon account for half of the carbon locked in the vast South American rainforest, a study has estimated. Although the region is home to an estimated 16,000 tree species, researchers found that just 182 species dominated the carbon storage process.

VIDEO: New York turns lights off for birds (BBC)

The state of New York is to turn off non-essential lights in state-run buildings to help birds navigate their migratory routes in spring and autumn.

Man-made Global Warming Likely to Be Moderate, Says Study (Reason)

A new study by researchers at Duke University found that future temperature increases due to man-made warming are tending in the tolerable direction. That study compared climate model outputs with model outputs primed with empirical temperature data from over the past 1,000 years. 

The green movement heads underground (APM Marketplace)

The “green” movement is headed underground — to the grave, that is.