HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

October 25, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Pollution linked to one in six deaths (BBC)
• Listeria risk prompts Meijer to recall produce in six U.S. states (Reuters)
• To Reduce Risk of Recurring Bladder Infection, Try Drinking More Water (NPR)
• Young Children Are Spending Much More Time in Front of Small Screens (NPR)
• How a graphene tattoo could monitor your health (BBC)
• Brickbat: No Surgery for You (Reason)

SCIENCE AND TEHCNOLOGY

• Commit a crime? Your Fitbit, key fob or pacemaker could snitch on you (Wash. Post)
• More acidic oceans ‘will affect all sea life’ (BBC)
• Troubled by Flint Water Crisis, 11-Year-Old Girl Invents Lead-Detecting Device (NPR)
• The next frontier for defense drones may be the world's oceans (SD Union-Tribune)
• United Airlines becomes latest carrier to put economy passengers in rows of 10 seats (SD Union-Tribune)
• Alarm over decline in flying insects (BBC)
• Stephen Hawking's Ph.D. Thesis Crashes Cambridge Site After It's Posted Online (NPR)
• The Judge’s Code (The Verge)

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

HEALTH

Pollution linked to one in six deaths (BBC)

Pollution has been linked to nine million deaths worldwide in 2015, a report in The Lancet has found.

Listeria risk prompts Meijer to recall produce in six U.S. states (Reuters)

Retailer Meijer Inc said it was recalling packaged vegetables in six U.S. states because of possible contamination from Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, which can cause fatal food poisoning in young children, pregnant women and elderly or frail people.

To Reduce Risk of Recurring Bladder Infection, Try Drinking More Water (NPR)

While it may seem simple, drinking water flushes bacteria out of the urethra, helping to prevent infection in women prone to them. And it also may help reduce the use of antibiotics.

Young Children Are Spending Much More Time in Front of Small Screens (NPR)

A new national survey of parents suggests mobile device use by children under 8 has increased tenfold in the past six years.

How a graphene tattoo could monitor your health (BBC)

The tattoo could be a wearable device measuring electrical activity of the brain, muscles and heart.

Brickbat: No Surgery for You (Reason)

The United Kingdom's National Health Service has imposed an indefinite ban on non-urgent surgery for smokers and the obese. Smokers will have to give up smoking for at least eight weeks before their will be scheduled for surgery, and the obese will have to lose weight

SCIENCE AND TEHCNOLOGY

Commit a crime? Your Fitbit, key fob or pacemaker could snitch on you (Washington Post)

The firefighter found Richard Dabate on the floor of his kitchen, where he had made a desperate 911 call minutes earlier, court records show. Bleeding and lashed to a chair with zip ties, the man moaned a chilling warning: “They’re still in the house.”

More acidic oceans ‘will affect all sea life’ (BBC)

All sea life will be affected because carbon dioxide emissions from modern society are making the oceans more acidic, a major new report will say. The eight-year study from more than 250 scientists finds that infant sea creatures will be especially harmed.

Troubled by Flint Water Crisis, 11-Year-Old Girl Invents Lead-Detecting Device (NPR)

The Colorado seventh-grader was unimpressed by the options her parents had to test water in their home. So, she created a sensor-based device using chemically treated carbon nanotubes to do it faster.

The next frontier for defense drones may be the world's oceans (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The next frontier for unmanned military drones may not be solely in the skies. It could be under the seas. The U.S. Navy and defense contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and others are increasingly focusing on ocean drones as the next big market for unmanned technology.

United Airlines becomes latest carrier to put economy passengers in rows of 10 seats (San Diego Union-Tribune)

If you hate the middle seat on a plane, you probably won’t like the new seat configuration on United Airlines Boeing 777s. The Chicago-based company announced that it is the latest carrier to reconfigure the seating on the Boeing 777-200 to add 21 additional seats.

Alarm over decline in flying insects (BBC)

Flying insects have declined by more than 75% in 30 years in German nature reserves, alarming ecologists.

Stephen Hawking's Ph.D. Thesis Crashes Cambridge Site After It's Posted Online (NPR)

By late Monday, the thesis had been viewed more than 60,000 times, a Cambridge official says. He adds, "Other popular theses might have 100 views per month."

The Judge’s Code (The Verge)

Meet the judge who codes — and decides tech’s biggest cases.