HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

East County News Service

December 19, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• U.S. life expectancy drops for first time in 22 years (CNN)
• Caesarian births ‘affecting human evolution’ (BBC)
• Brain tests predict children's futures (BBC)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Reindeer are shrinking: warming threatens Christmas icon (Yahoo news)
• Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it may vanish under Pres. Trump (Washington Post)
• What Silicon Valley executives plan to tell Trump this week (Washington Post)
• Exclusive: SWIFT confirms new cyber thefts, hacking tactics (Reuters)

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

HEALTH

U.S. life expectancy drops for first time in 22 years (CNN)

For the first time since 1993, life expectancy in the United States has dropped significantly for the entire population, not just certain groups…

Caesarian births ‘affecting human evolution’ (BBC)

More mothers now need surgery to deliver a baby due to their narrow pelvis size, according to a study. Researchers estimate cases where the baby cannot fit down the birth canal have increased from 30 in 1,000 in the 1960s to 36 in 1,000 births today. Historically, these genes would not have been passed from mother to child as both would have died in labour.

Brain tests predict children's futures (BBC)

Brain tests at the age of three appear to predict a child's future success in life, according to researchers.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Reindeer are shrinking: warming threatens Christmas icon (Yahoo news)

If Santa is recruiting helpers to haul Christmas presents around the world this year he had better take a few extra, said researchers Monday who warned that reindeer are shrinking. Over the past 16 years, the weight of adult reindeer in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic has dropped by 12 percent, likely due to global warming, said study findings presented to a meeting at the British Ecological Society (BES) in Liverpool.

Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it may vanish under Pres. Trump (Washington Post)

Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.

What Silicon Valley executives plan to tell Trump this week (Washington Post)

When the tech industry’s top executives head to Trump Tower this week for an invite-only meeting, they will have many things to say to Donald Trump. But they all share a major agenda item: breaking the ice. Unlike President Obama, who frequently visited Silicon Valley and hosted tech executives at the White House, the president-elect has had a bitter relationship with the industry.

Exclusive: SWIFT confirms new cyber thefts, hacking tactics (Reuters)

Cyber attacks targeting the global bank transfer system have succeeded in stealing funds since February’s heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank as hackers have become more sophisticated in their tactics, according to a SWIFT official and a previously undisclosed letter the organization sent to banks worldwide.