The Nuance Behind Those Low Abortion Numbers: Women Are Self-Managing Care With Black Market Pills

The New York Times: Abortions In Clinics Decline, But Abortions With Black-Market Pills Are Rising
The number of abortions performed in American clinics was lower in 2017 than in any year since abortion became legal nationwide in 1973, new data showed this week. But that does not count a growing number of women who are managing their abortions themselves, without going to a medical office — often by buying pills illicitly. These “invisible” abortions are hard to measure, so it’s unclear how much higher the true abortion rate is. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 9/20)

The New York Times: Scientists Identify Neurons That Help The Brain Forget
One afternoon in April 1929, a journalist from a Moscow newspaper turned up in Alexander Luria’s office with an unusual problem: He never forgot things. Dr. Luria, a neuropsychologist, proceeded to test the man, who later became known as subject S., by spouting long strings of numbers and words, foreign poems and scientific formulas, all of which S. recited back without fail. Decades later, S. still remembered the lists of numbers perfectly whenever Dr. Luria retested him. (Sheikh, 9/19)

The New York Times: Should You Keep Taking Zantac For Your Heartburn?
The heartburn drug Zantac has been on the market for decades, and was considered safe enough to be sold over the counter and regularly given to infants. But last week, the Food and Drug Administration said that it had detected low levels of a cancer-causing chemical in samples of the drug, which is also known as ranitidine. The agency advised patients who were taking over-the-counter versions of Zantac to consider switching to other medications. (Thomas, 9/19)

Stat: Nebula Is The First Consumer DNA Company To Offer Anonymous Sequencing
The upstart direct-to-consumer DNA-testing company Nebula Genomics announced on Thursday that it will offer anonymous genome sequencing, becoming the first to do so amid public concerns about the privacy of genetic data and law enforcement use of public DNA databases to identify suspects. Customers will be able to purchase Nebula’s whole-genome sequencing “without sharing their name, address, or credit card information,” said Nebula co-founder and chief scientific officer Dennis Grishin. (Begley, 9/19)

ProPublica: Be Prepared: Find The ER You Want To Go To Before An Emergency Happens
To be prepared in the event of an emergency, you can use our newly updated ER Inspector (formerly called ER Wait Watcher) to help you evaluate the emergency rooms near you. Using data from the federal government, our interactive database lets you compare ERs on both efficiency measures, including how long patients typically spend in the ER before being sent home, and quality measures, such as how many violations related to ER care a hospital has had. (Groeger, 9/19)

NPR: Extremism Researchers Struggle With The Mental Toll Of Their Work
Charlie Winter, a London-based terrorism researcher, was dining with friends one recent evening when the conversation turned to whether it is ethical to eat meat. Someone brought up slaughterhouse conditions, Winter said, and he instantly grew uneasy. He stayed for a while longer, squirming, and then finally left the room. That word — "slaughterhouse" — had conjured images of one of the most gruesome ISIS videos he'd come across. The militants had filmed a mass execution in a slaughterhouse, casting their prisoners as the animals. (Allam, 9/20)

Politico Pro: Trump Signs An Order To Make Better Flu Vaccines
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing HHS to encourage the production of more and better U.S. flu vaccines, as well as convince additional Americans to get vaccinated. The order, which POLITICO in July first reported was in development, does not include new funding and essentially continues work done by federal agencies since 2005. (Allen, 9/19)

The New York Times: Silicon Valley Goes To Therapy
Silicon Valley told itself a good story, the best one, really: It was saving the world. For nearly a decade, this gave the modern tech worker purpose, optimism and self-confidence. Then came the bad headlines, followed by worse headlines — about the industry, about the country, about the world. In search of reassurance, tech workers commandeered the old hippie retreat Esalen, co-opted Burning Man, got interested in psychedelics and meditation. It wasn’t enough. (Bowles, 9/20)

The New York Times: Banish Roundup From The Farm? It’ll Take More Than Lawsuits
From his farm in northwestern Wisconsin, Andy Bensend watched as first one jury, then another and another, delivered staggering multimillion-dollar verdicts to people who argued that their use of a weedkiller sold at nearly every hardware and home-improvement store had caused their cancer. Mr. Bensend has been using that product, Roundup, on his 5,000 acres for 40 years, but he said that those blockbuster awards would not alter his farm practices one whit. Neither would the 20,000 lawsuits still pending. (Cohen, 9/20)

The Washington Post: Autistic Self Advocacy Network Breaks With Sesame Street Over Autism Speaks Ties
An autistic “Sesame Street” muppet is caught in a conflict between the most prominent autism organization in the United States advocating for early intervention, and autistic adults who see the condition as a difference, not a disease needing to be cured. Since 2017, a Muppet named Julia has given children on the spectrum a role model and helped parents and peers understand the condition. (Bever, 9/19)

Seattle Times: How Climate Change Threatens Our Health In The Pacific Northwest 
While smoke from wildfires might be climate change’s most obvious impact in Washington, other threats still loom. Some predicted health effects include heatstroke, dehydration, worsened pollen allergies and increased cancer risk. And while local scientists have a plan to fix it, they say they are concerned that no one is carrying it out. Meanwhile, climate scientists predict more smoky summers. On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a study that found that during one year, wildfire smoke in Washington state caused 245 deaths, directly and indirectly. The study pegged the costs of those “premature deaths” at $2.2 billion, and $55 million spent dealing with associated illnesses. (Blethen, 9/19)

The Associated Press: US Awards $3M To Fill Gaps In Medical Marijuana Research
The U.S. government will spend $3 million to find out if marijuana can relieve pain, but none of the money will be used to study the part of the plant that gets people high. Nine research grants announced Thursday are for work on CBD, the trendy ingredient showing up in cosmetics and foods, and hundreds of less familiar chemicals. THC research was excluded. (9/19)

Kaiser Health News: How Cruise Ship Passengers Should Prepare For Sickness Or Injury At Sea
Royal Caribbean’s gargantuan Oasis of the Seas boasts four outdoor pools and an 82-foot zip line and made quite a splash shortly after its 2014 refurbishment when it added the first Tiffany & Co boutique at sea. But in January 2019, the cruise ship, which bills itself one of the world’s largest, produced less cheerful news: Hundreds of passengers fell ill from the highly contagious norovirus stomach flu. (Horovitz, 9/20)