Child Hunger in America: Rising Rates and Promising Solutions
Dr. Sara Bleich, a public health policy expert, reveals the top contributing factors and which communities are most at-risk.
Medical Notes: Trauma Shrinks Your Brain, Restoring Movement To Paralyzed Limbs, And Why Rates of Poverty Have Declined
Does trauma shrink your brain? Can spinal stimulation restore mobility for paralyzed limbs? Rates of poverty are in decline.
Blame Your Grandparents for Your Health Issues
Author Judith Finlayson explains how our grandparents’ habits and behaviors have a direct influence on our DNA.
Homeless Americans: Myth vs. Reality
Around a half million people are homeless in the US on any given night, but the street homeless who are most visible often incorrectly influence our assumptions about the homeless. A noted researcher discusses myths and truths about their addictions, employment, residences, and more, and why people often become homeless.
Medical Notes: September 5, 2021
Growing up in poverty physically changes the brain, making it much more likely poor kids have cognitive and behavioral difficulties later. A study showing almost a quarter of all substances used to make plastic either cause cancer, damage organs, or are toxic. And finally, it’s no secret that people who are good looking are more likely to get hired and be …
Poor and Rural Kids in Crisis
A study by Save the Children shows on a county-by-county basis that children in poor and rural counties, especially in the south, are much less likely to survive into adulthood, and when they do, they’re often forced to become adults too soon by poverty, pregnancy, and lack of education. A Save the Children expert discusses factors that hurt children and …
Refineries and Their Neighbors: How Safe is the Air?
A recent report shows that more than a dozen refineries around the US are emitting benzene pollution into the air at higher levels than allowed by the EPA. An activist discusses this newly labeled problem and what the agency can do to curb it.
The Covid Baby Bust
The US birth rate has been declining since the Crash of 2008, but it took an even larger decline during the pandemic to levels unseen since the Great Depression. Today fertility rates are below replacement levels, which could have big impacts on education, employment, and the tax base years down the road.
How High Drug Prices Lead to Drug Misuse (2021)
Millions of Americans cannot afford the medications they’ve been prescribed. Many skip doses, split pills or don’t fill prescriptions at all as a result, with sometimes even fatal consequences. Experts discuss the problem and what patients can do to save.
Giving Cash to the Homeless
Homelessness continues to be a stubborn problem despite many well-intentioned programs. A new experimental study finds that giving homeless people thousands of dollars in cash helps get many of them off the streets for good, calling into question many assumptions about the homeless and how they got that way. Experts discuss the new program and its …
Medical Notes: Week of March 21, 2021
Rich countries are buying all the available Covid-19 vaccine for themselves… leaving poor countries in the cold. Then, have you been double masking? If you haven’t been able to get the vaccine, it could be one of the best things you can do to stay safe from Covid. And finally, you may think that loud music is distracting while you’re driving… but a new study …
Broke: Patients Open Up About Money Woes
Millions of Americans are in financial straits due to Covid layoffs and furloughs. A doctor describes how he gets patients to talk about why they’re in trouble and what they do about it to create an eye-opening portrait.
