HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

East County News Service

October 12, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Backyard Chickens Linked to Record High in Salmonella Infections, CDC Says (NPR)
• Immunotherapy cancer drug hailed as 'game changer' (BBC)
• Perdue Goes (Almost) Antibiotic-Free (NPR)
• Sons born with fertility treatment 'inherit problems' (BBC)
• Across The Globe, Our Diets Are Making Us Sicker, Report Finds (NPR)
• Animal TB threatens human health say vets and doctors (BBC)
• FDA Approves the First Automated Insulin System for Type 1 Diabetes (NPR)
• Does the contraceptive pill cause depression? (BBC)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Your home might be secretly carrying out cyberattacks (CS Monitor)
• Want double-strength silk? Feed the silkworms graphene.(CSMonitor)
• Hurricane Matthew: Why are birds flying in the eye of the storm? (CSMonitor)
• Rosetta Crashes into Comet, Bringing Historic Mission to End (NPR)
• Yahoo Allegedly Scanned Incoming Emails on Behalf of NSA, FBI (Reason)
• Facebook launches 'Secret' option for Messenger, joining encryption wave (CSMonitor)
• Phone Emergency Alerts Will Begin Including Links, Phone Numbers (NPR)
• Noto: Why Google wants one universal font to rule them all (CSMonitor)

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

HEALTH

Backyard Chickens Linked to Record High in Salmonella Infections, CDC Says (NPR)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented a record high number of salmonella infections linked to these domestic flocks….  So far this year, 895 people from 48 states have gotten sick, and 209 people have been hospitalized... . This year, about 30 percent of the documented infections were in small children, 5 years or younger. The CDC says children are "much more likely to get sick from contact with chicken and other live poultry," so the recommendation is that children under 5 shouldn't handle or touch the birds.

Immunotherapy cancer drug hailed as 'game changer'(BBC)

An immunotherapy drug is described as a potential "game changer" in promising trial results on advanced cancers.

Perdue Goes (Almost) Antibiotic-Free (NPR)

The giant poultry producer says that it is now raising all of its chickens without routine antibiotics. Only those flocks that get sick, about 5 percent of all birds, will be treated.

Sons born with fertility treatment 'inherit problems' (BBC)

Boys born to fathers who needed help conceiving grow up to have poorer sperm quality than peers conceived without help, a study has found.

Across The Globe, Our Diets Are Making Us Sicker, Report Finds (NPR)

Diet and nutrition are now the biggest risk factors for people's health across the globe, even in poorer countries. That's according to a recent report published by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems Nutrition, an independent group of experts on nutrition and health.

Animal TB threatens human health say vets and doctors (BBC)

Animal tuberculosis, which is spread through contaminated food, is a greater threat to human health than previously realized, leading doctors and vets warn.

FDA Approves the First Automated Insulin System for Type 1 Diabetes (NPR)

The new system joins a continuous glucose monitor with an insulin pump, which work together to keep blood sugar from going too high or too low. That will make it safer to sleep through the night.

Does the contraceptive pill cause depression? (BBC)

A study linking the contraceptive pill with depression is met with relief, frustration and debate.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Your home might be secretly carrying out cyberattacks (CS Monitor)

Criminal hackers have shown they can take over connected home devices and turn them into zombie networks that carry out debilitating online attacks.

Want double-strength silk? Feed the silkworms graphene. (CSMonitor)

Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing fed the one-atom-thick, tremendously tough material to silkworms in one of the first applications of graphene that could become mainstream.

Hurricane Matthew: Why are birds flying in the eye of the storm? (CSMonitor)

Meteorologists tracking the hurricane on radar spotted birds flying in the eye of the storm, traveling along as it moves up the US east coast.

Rosetta Crashes into Comet, Bringing Historic Mission to End (NPR)

The Rosetta spacecraft has been orbiting the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet for two years. Now scientists have ended the mission, and the spacecraft has lost contact with Earth forever.

Yahoo Allegedly Scanned Incoming Emails on Behalf of NSA, FBI (Reason)

This all happened last year, even after Snowden’s revelations and government reforms.

Facebook launches 'Secret' option for Messenger, joining encryption wave (CSMonitor)

Facebook users can now opt in to end-to-end encryption on each message thread.

Phone Emergency Alerts Will Begin Including Links, Phone Numbers (NPR)

Regulators have voted to expand cellphone alerts to 360 characters from the previous cutoff at 90 and to begin including clickable URLs and phone numbers over the next year or so. But no photos yet.

Noto: Why Google wants one universal font to rule them all (CSMonitor)

Google announced one of the biggest typography projects, Noto, on Thursday. The font family covers more than 800 languages and 100 writing scripts.