HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

December 11, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• The number of nearsighted kids is soaring – and screen time isn't the only factor (USA Today)
• Californians aren’t getting the mental health care they’re legally guaranteed. Why not? (Cal Matters)
• U.S. Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion restriction (Reuters) 

SCIENCE AND TECH

• YouTube Takes Tougher Stance on Harassment (New York Times) 
• The first artificial material that follows sunlight may upgrade solar panels (Science News)
• Amazon lawsuit blames Trump for loss of Pentagon cloud contract (Reuters)

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

HEALTH

The number of nearsighted kids is soaring – and screen time isn't the only factor (USA Today)

…Screens are an easy culprit, but experts suspect that is only part of the explanation. Exposure to sunlight may play a role. More time spent outdoors appears to ward off the need for glasses.

Californians aren’t getting the mental health care they’re legally guaranteed. Why not? (Cal Matters)

Laws require health plans to provide patients equal treatment for mental and physical needs. But "parity" is often elusive — and critics say the Legislature and health officials have failed to fix the problem.

U.S. Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion restriction (Reuters) 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky restriction requiring doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion, turning away a challenge arguing that the measure violates the free speech rights of physicians. 

SCIENCE AND TECH

YouTube Takes Tougher Stance on Harassment (New York Times)

A new policy is a response to criticism that the video service hasn’t done enough to curb bad behavior by users.

The first artificial material that follows sunlight may upgrade solar panels (Science News)

Rows of tiny stemlike rods called SunBOTs orient themselves toward light, optimizing the solar energy that they can harvest. 

Amazon lawsuit blames Trump for loss of Pentagon cloud contract (Reuters)

Amazon.com Inc on Monday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of exerting “improper pressure” and bias that led the Department of Defense to award a lucrative $10 billion cloud contract to rival Microsoft Corp.