HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

October 4, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• First global pledge to end cholera by 2030 (BBC)
• 2017 Nobel Prize in medicine goes to three Americans for body clock studies (New York Times)
• Zika was a mild bug. A new discovery shows how it became monstrous. (Washington Post)
• FDA Not Doing Enough to Fix Serious Food Safety Violations, Report Finds (NPR)
• Anthem Says No to Many Scans Done by Hospital-Owned Clinics (NPR)
• 'Hypoallergenic' and 'Fragrance-Free' Moisturizer Claims Are Often False (NPR)
• Brain's Link to Immune System Might Help Explain Alzheimer's (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• App helps you find ATM skimmers so you don’t get scammed (CNET)
• Security firm finds some Macs vulnerable to 'firmware' attacks (Reuters)
• Facebook says 10 million U.S. users saw Russia-linked ads (Reuters)
• Equifax failed to patch security vulnerability in March: former CEO (Reuters)
• Facebook, Google Spread Misinformation About Las Vegas Shooting. What Went Wrong? (NPR)
• Global corn surplus stems from rapid scientific advancements (CS Monitor)
• Tsunami drives species 'army' across Pacific to US coast (BBC)
• Happy 350,000th birthday: Study pushes back Homo sapiens origins (Reuters)
• AncestryDNA angers privacy campaigners (BBC)

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

HEALTH

First global pledge to end cholera by 2030 (BBC)

Health officials from around the world are meeting in France to commit to preventing 90% of cholera deaths by 2030. The disease, which is spread through contaminated water, kills about 100,000 people every year. It is the first-time governments, the World Health Organization, aid agencies and donors have made such a pledge

2017 Nobel Prize in medicine goes to three Americans for body clock studies (New York Times)

Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discoveries about the molecular mechanisms controlling the body’s circadian rhythm.

Zika was a mild bug. A new discovery shows how it became monstrous. (Washington Post)

When the Zika virus became a global terror two years ago — inflicting severe birth defects on the babies of pregnant women who were infected with the virus and alarming health officials worldwide — scientists were mystified.

FDA Not Doing Enough to Fix Serious Food Safety Violations, Report Finds (NPR)

The health department's inspector general says FDA often fails to follow up in a timely way when it uncovers big problems, like unsanitary conditions or the presence of pathogens, at food facilities.

Anthem Says No to Many Scans Done by Hospital-Owned Clinics (NPR)

MRI and CT scans done at hospitals for outpatients are often too expensive, says the firm, which insures patients in 14 states. The shift in policy won't apply to mammograms or X-rays, Anthem says.

'Hypoallergenic' And 'Fragrance-Free' Moisturizer Claims Are Often False (NPR)

People with skin conditions like eczema need moisturizers to treat their dry, cracked and reddened skin. But research suggests many moisturizers are mislabeled and can make the skin conditions worse.

Brain's Link to Immune System Might Help Explain Alzheimer's (NPR)

For centuries, scientists thought the human brain had no direct connection to the body's immune system. Now researchers seem to have found one, and say it may offer clues to multiple sclerosis, too.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

App helps you find ATM skimmers so you don’t get scammed (CNET)

Now you don't have to fidget card readers to figure out if there's a skimmer. Meet the Skimmer Scanner.

Security firm finds some Macs vulnerable to 'firmware' attacks (Reuters)

Since 2015, Apple Inc has tried to protect its Mac line of computers from a form of hacking that is extremely hard to detect, but it has not been entirely successful in getting the fixes to its customers, according to research released on Friday by Duo Security.

Facebook says 10 million U.S. users saw Russia-linked ads (Reuters)

Some 10 million people in the United States saw politically divisive ads on Facebook that the company said were purchased in Russia in the months before and after last year's U.S. presidential election, Facebook said on Monday.

Equifax failed to patch security vulnerability in March: former CEO (Reuters)

Equifax Inc was alerted in March to the software security vulnerability that led to hackers obtaining personal information of more than 140 million Americans but took months to patch it, its former CEO said in testimony to be delivered to Congress on Tuesday.

Facebook, Google Spread Misinformation About Las Vegas Shooting. What Went Wrong? (NPR)

The platforms promoted the name of a man falsely accused of being the shooter by surfacing less-credible sites. The companies say they're working on fixes, but analysts say the challenge is massive.

Global corn surplus stems from rapid scientific advancements (CS Monitor)

Scientists have created stronger, faster growing corn that is allowing farmers as far north as Alaska to grow healthy crops. However, the abundance of corn and other grains is causing problems for farmers all over the world as surpluses drive down prices. 

Tsunami drives species 'army' across Pacific to US coast (BBC)

Hundreds of Japanese species have been found on US coasts, swept there by the deadly 2011 tsunami.

Happy 350,000th birthday: Study pushes back Homo sapiens origins (Reuters)

Genetic data from the skeletal remains of seven people who lived centuries ago in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province is offering intriguing new evidence that our species, Homo sapiens, is older than previously believed.

AncestryDNA angers privacy campaigners (BBC)

Privacy campaigners have criticised genealogy company Ancestry.com for continuing to keep customers' DNA data.