• Regenerate: Biotechnology and U.S. Industrial Policy

    A revolution in biotechnology is dawning at the precise moment the world needs it most. Amid an ongoing climate crisis, fast-paced technological maturation, and a global pandemic, humans must find new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve food security, develop new vaccines and therapeutics, recycle waste, synthesize new materials, and adapt to a changing world. The United States needs some form of industrial policy to promote its bioeconomy—one that is enshrined in democratic values and focused on improving access to four key drivers of bioeconomic growth: equipment, personnel, information, and capital.

  • U.S. Launches Heat.gov with Tools for Communities Facing Extreme Heat

    The administration launched Heat.gov, a new website to provide the public and decision-makers with clear, timely and science-based information to understand and reduce the health risks of extreme heat. Heat.gov will provide a one-stop hub on heat and health for the nation and is a priority of President Biden’s National Climate Task Force and its Interagency Working Group on Extreme Heat.

  • NIST Updates Guidance for Health Care Cybersecurity

    In an effort to help health care organizations protect patients’ personal health information, NIST has updated its cybersecurity guidance for the health care industry. The revised draft publication aims to help organizations comply with HIPAA Security Rule.

  • Strengthening U.S. Government’s Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogen Framework, Dual Use Research

    Group of scientists, public health experts, policy researchers propose strengthening of U.S. government’s policies regarding enhanced potential pandemic pathogen framework and dual use research of concern.

  • Review: IT in Health Care Has Produced Modest Changes — So Far

    Large study of existing research shows incremental improvement in patient outcomes and productivity, without big employment changes.

  • Research Collaboration Informs International Classification of Firefighting as Carcinogenic

    The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as carcinogenic, changing the previous classification of possibly carcinogenic.

  • Europe Heat Wave: U.K. Records Hottest-Ever Temperature

    Western Europe continues to bake in extreme heat, with the UK recording a temperature over 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, and wildfires burning through French forests. Relief is expected later in the week.

  • Is There a Link Between Mental Health and Mass Shootings?

    There have already been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States this year—the latest at a 4th of July parade in the Highland Park suburb of Chicago. That shooting left seven dead, including both parents of a 2-year old toddler, and dozens injured – among them an 8-year old with a severed spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. As the United States reckons with these increasingly common public massacres, many blame mental illness as the fundamental cause. The reality, however, is that people with mental illness account for a very small proportion of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States, says one expert.

  • To Reach the Public, Highlight the Health Implications of Climate Change: Expert

    Among the health effects of climate change: Increases in extreme heat can lead to more heat-related illness and death from heat stroke and dehydration. Poor air quality can cause more lung infections, asthma and allergy attacks, bronchitis, and deaths. Rising temperatures can also increase the geographic range of disease-carrying insects and animals, resulting in faster and wider spread of diseases like Zika virus. Rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions make it easier for food and water to become contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other toxins.

  • Radioactive Sources: Discussing Safety and Security

    Today, radioactive sources are used in many areas including energy, medicine, industry, food and agriculture, research, and in environmental monitoring and protection. “Radioactive sources are all around us, offering immense societal and economic benefits, but they may also pose a risk. Managing these sources well, protects us from accidental radiation exposure and keeps them away from people with malicious intent,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

  • Most Major U.S. Cities Underprepared for Rising Temperatures

    This month, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix all posted record high temperatures. And across the nation, Americans are ramping up for a scorching summer. Yet despite more frequent and intense heat waves on the horizon, cities are underprepared to deal with the challenge.

  • Assessing the Risks of Toxic or Flammable Clouds

    The Chemical Security Analysis Center was established by the Department of Homeland Security to identify and assess chemical threats and vulnerabilities in the United States and develop the best responses to potential chemical hazards.

  • The Risk of Drinking Contaminated Water During Flooding

    In addition to causing property damage and psychological impacts, flooding can pose a significant health risk, particularly due to contamination of drinking water sources. Researchers are a decision-making tool to estimate the risk of water contamination in flooded areas.

  • Keeping Communities Safe from Chemical Hazards During Hurricane

    Extreme weather from hurricanes and tropical storms can devastate communities along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, and the threat of subsequent hazard chemical releases can be just as deadly.

  • Nearly 108,000 Overdose Deaths in 2021 Bear Out a Prediction from Five Years Ago

    A grim prediction made half a decade ago by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health epidemiologists and modelers has come true: More than 100,000 people are now dying from drug overdoses annually in the U.S.