HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

September 29, 2024 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future

HEALTH

• New COVID variant XEC now in half the states. Here’s what to know. (CBS)
• Utilities must comply with limits on PFAS chemicals by 2029 (NPR)
• A dramatic rise in pregnant women dying in Texas after abortion ban (NBC)
• FDA has new mammography rules regarding breast-tissue density   (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• It's A good time to revisit what Project 2025 would mean for hurricane forecasts (Huffington Post)
• Death toll from Hurricane Helene mounts as aftermath assessment begins (NPR)
• 'What a perfect world': First private spacewalk a success (BBC)
• Doritos dye makes mice transparent, Invisible humans next? (MSN)

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

HEALTH

New COVID variant XEC now in half the states. Here’s what to know. (CBS)

... Americans are still recommended to get this fall and winter's round of updated COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC spokesperson said. Those shots were greenlighted last month with an update to target the KP.2 strain of the virus.

Utilities must comply with limits on PFAS chemicals by 2029 (NPR)

Now that the Environmental Protection Agency is putting limits on some forever chemicals in drinking water, utilities across the country will have to take action. They've got five years to comply.

A dramatic rise in pregnant women dying in Texas after abortion ban (NBC)

Exclusive analysis finds the rate of maternal deaths in Texas increased 56% from 2019 to 2022, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period.

FDA has new mammography rules regarding breast-tissue density   (NPR)

Nearly half of women over 40 have what doctors consider dense breast tissue, which increases their risk of cancer, yet until now, few are told what their diagnosis might mean, or what they should do.

SCIENCE AND TECH

It's A Good Time To Revisit What Project 2025 Would Mean For Hurricane Forecasts (Huffington Post)

... Project 2025 ― the sweeping policy blueprint that GOP operatives, including dozens of former Trump administration officials, compiled to guide a second Trump term ― calls for a future Republican administration to “break up” the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is the parent agency of the 154-year-old National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. “The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories,” reads the 920-page manifesto. Experts warn that doing so would be a deadly mistake.

Death toll from Hurricane Helene mounts as aftermath assessment begins (NPR)

Rescue teams across the southeastern U.S. and southern Appalachia scrambled to respond to the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, as more than 2.6 million homes and businesses were without any power Saturday amid a continued threat of floods.  At least 64 people were killed across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

'What a perfect world': First private spacewalk a success (BBC)

A billionaire and an engineer have become the first non-professional crew to perform a spacewalk on the only commercial mission to pull off the risky maneuver.

Doritos Dye Makes Mice Transparent, Invisible Humans Next? (MSN)

Stanford University scientists have recently found a potentially groundbreaking way to make the skin of live mice transparent using a food dye found in the popular packaged snack Doritos, according to a study published in the journal Science on September 5. This discovery could revolutionize optical imaging in biological research, according to the researchers.